The Broken Road
by Flowerlady
Summary: LotF, post LotF...Jaina x Zekk and later Jaina x Jag....After Jag leaves, Jaina finds herself with Zekk. Deciding that she has waited long enough to live her life, she will finally make a decision that will eventually lead her to what she really wants.
1. Chapter 1: The Broken Road

**Author's Note: **Please respond...I love feedback.

Also, for those who are reading this story, I've decided to change my way of posting this, breaking it up as it is on TF.N where it is being posted first.

**Title: The Broken Road**

**Cover Art: **See link in my profile

**Author: **Flowerlady

**Rating:** R

**Genre:** Angst, Romance— written in snapshot fashion.

**Timeframe: **LotF—Post LotF (encompasses several years)

**Characters:** Jaina, Jag, Zekk, others (Parings: Zekk/Jaina, Jag/OC and later Jag/Jaina but not necessarily as a love triangle or square)

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. GL owns the SW and Rascal Flatts own the song "Bess the Broken Road".

**Summary:** The Sword of the Jedi fulfils her destiny, but now that the war is over things begin to change. While they fought together, first chasing Alema Rar and then Darth Caedus, Jag, Zekk and Jaina became a true team and partners. After Jag leaves, Jaina finds herself with Zekk. Deciding that she has waited long enough to have love in her life, she will make a decision that will eventually lead her to what she really wants. However after tragedy strikes, she will finally find the end of her broken road and a new beginning that she would never have dreamed of.

**_The Broken Road_**

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_I set out on a narrow way many years ago  
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road  
But I got lost a time or two  
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through  
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you  
Every long lost dream lead me to where you are  
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you_

_I think about the years I spent just passing through  
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you  
But you just s mile and take my hand  
You've been there you understand  
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true_

_Every long lost dream lead me to where you are  
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you_

(Rascal Flatts_, Bless the Broken Road_)

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_Late 40 ABY_

"_I…hate…you…_" breathed the last from the Sith.

Staring down into the dying golden eyes of the man who had been her twin, she staggered back and finally the trauma of what had occurred between them swept over her. Dropping her lightsaber to the hangar floor, she fell to her knees and began to shudder uncontrollably as she screamed.

"Shhh…Jaina, it's over," the soothing voice said as its owner wrapped his strong arms around her pulling her to him. She turned away from the gruesome sight of her brother's nearly halved body to bury her face into the comforting chest, and let his warmth and love give her strength. Just this once she didn't fight his love for her, she accepted it and welcomed it.

"I tried…I didn't want to kill him…" she sobbed.

"Shhh…you did what had to be done," he reassured her as he began to move them away from the dead Sith Lord, Darth Caedus.

Pulling away from him, she shook her head, "Was this my destiny, Zekk? Was this what being the Sword of the Jedi meant? I just killed my twin brother. No matter what he had done, he was still my only brother." She began to cry again and he easily picked her up to cradle in his arms. Once she had her arms tightly around his neck, he reached out with his hand and called her lightsaber to it. After clipping the hilt onto his belt, he left the old warehouse where the final battle had taken place, hitting the comlink clipped to his shoulder as he moved.

"Fel, here," came the voice on the other end.

"Jag, I found her," Zekk simply said, as he continued to move to the corner of the street. "He's dead."

"Zekk, is she all right?" It was easy to hear the concern in the other man's voice.

Zekk swallowed hard as he glanced down at Jaina's pale, tear streaked face. "Physically, she is."

Jaina met his gaze and she suddenly felt so protected in his strong embrace. He come to a stop in the deserted intersection and said into the comlink, "We're in position. Get us the hell out of here."

ooooOOOoooo

_One Month Later, 40 ABY_

"Jag," Jaina said as she opened her apartment door. "Is something the matter? I got concerned when you called."

He shook his head and looked past her shoulder into the depths of the small Temple apartment. Finally, he met her gaze and asked, "May I come in? There's something I need to talk to you about."

She moved away from the door and gestured, saying, "Sure."

Once settled in the small sitting area of the single room flat, Jaina could sense Jag's discomfort about being alone with her. Clearing her throat, she began, "So…what is it that you need to speak to me about?"

Jag met her gaze again and said, "I came to tell you that I'm leaving."

"Leaving? Where to? Why?" Jaina couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice, or her sudden panic. Over the past year since the three of them became a team, she came to rely on both of the men in her life. They somehow discovered a fragile balance. She knew they both loved her; although, she had told them a long time ago that she was not interested in their advances, or their silly competition.

However, what she kept from them, and barely admitted to herself, was that she loved them as well. She wasn't able to choose between them, so as long as they worked together, she didn't have to. It was easier to keep on lying to herself.

Jag nervously rubbed his hands on his thighs before saying, "Yes, Jaina. It's time for me to go back to my life. I contacted my father."

"In Csilla?"

He shook his head, "No, Bastion." She stared at him puzzled, and before she could ask, he elaborated, "After I left the Chiss in search of Alema Rar, my parents along with my brother and sister went back to the Empire. I've known that they were there for some time, but I had to continue in my quest to find Alema and I became content here. But now the war is over, and I've decided that it's time for me to move on. Jaina, my father has secured for me a commission with the Imperial Navy. I'll be a commander of a wing of TIE fighters."

"But you're my partner," said she, shaking her head. Distraught, she went on to stammer, "I—we need you…here for our team."

He gave her one of his half s miles and said, "You don't need me for the team. I'm not a Jedi. You and Zekk are the Jedi in our Jedi team." She stared at him for a long time and then Jag quietly asked, "But we were a good team as pilots. Come back with me, Jaina. You know how I feel about you," he added so softly it was a hoarse whisper.

She stared at him; her heart breaking as she realized to do as he asked would take her, not only away from Zekk, but the Jedi and her fa mily as well. After a long intense moment of silence, she whispered, "You know that I can't do that. My fa mily and the Jedi need me now."

Jag nodded and swallowed hard as he stood up. Jaina followed and reached out to take his hand. He didn't recoil from the contact; instead he pulled her to him and wrapped her up in his arms. "Jaina…" Whatever he was going to say was completely lost when she pulled him to her lips. The kiss was passionate and full of regret.

When it finally ended, Jaina fought back her tears by biting on her bottom lip. "Take care of yourself, Jagged."

At her door he looked over his shoulder and gave her a half-hearted s mile, "And you take care, Jaina." Then he chuckled, but Jaina could feel the pain behind it as he said, "It seems we are good at saying good-bye."

She sniffed and forced a s mile. "I don't know if I'd say 'we're good' at it."

He nodded and looked back at the open door. Finally, he stepped to move through it. "Jag?" Her voice stopped him and he turned once more. "Jagged, I hope that our paths cross again someday. Maybe the roads won't be so broken the next time."

He s miled and said, "I hope for that too. Good-bye, Goddess," he whispered and was gone.

--TBC--

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Thanks for reading...


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Please respond...I love feedback.

Also, for those who are reading this story, I've decided to change my way of posting this, breaking it up as it is on TF.N where it is being posted first. So, that means you may have seen this before, but I have made changes to make compliant with canon through _Fury_.

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_Three Months Later, 41 ABY_

The lights were low and the music loud and sensual, making Jaina feel very out of place in the tight, short black dress. She looked up into her dance partner's face and could sense him concentrating on the Force, as he watched a booth in the back of the dingy dining room.

After a long moment more of them mindlessly swaying to the slow music, Zekk looked down and met her gaze. He leaned in and pretended to place a kiss on her ear, instead he whispered, "Let's move closer. We have to see them make the exchange."

She shuddered involuntarily at the feel of his warm breath against her skin. Zekk pulled away and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't comment. She nodded her agreement to his suggestion, and they moved off the dance floor. Making their way through the dark smokiness of the Denon spice den, they found a corner closer to the booth of the two beings they had been watching for the past week, waiting for them to make a connection and the exchange of credits that would seal their clandestine deal. The human was a slimy male Kuati politician and the Duros male was a known crime boss with connections to the Hutts, Black Sun and the Peace Brigade.

Once pressed in the corner, they were only a low wall and an empty table away from the booth the two were sitting. Zekk s miled at Jaina, and through their bond, she knew what he had in mind. She swallowed, nodded and allowed him to press her against the durocrete block wall.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear again, "We have to make this look good or they won't be able to ignore us."

She whispered back, "I know."

He slowly began to place kisses along her neck, and Jaina suddenly wondered how they were going to concentrate. She hooked her leg around his hip, and he lifted her to sit on his waist. She felt him fight the biological response to her closeness and the half-acting. Feeling her own response to his kisses to her collarbone, she actually moaned against his neck as she began to slowly nibble on it. She fought the urge to close her eyes by forcing herself to watch the two beings at the booth.

"Can you hear what they are saying?" His breath was hot against her ear and his voice husky, both causing her to shiver.

Jaina focused on the Force and whispered back, "No." Then she amended, "Wait. They noticed us. The Senator asked Zartus if they should move. Zartus is looking at us too."

"We can't let them get away."

"I know." She then bit his earlobe and shifted her weight provocatively over his hardening manhood. The sensations were enough to cause him to moan loudly as he instantly became hard against her panty covered crotch.

"Damn, Jaina," he breathed in her ear.

She smiled against his neck where she gently suckled, and after licking his earlobe, whispered, "You said to make it look real."

"Yeah, well…you keep this up it will be very real for me. Do you have any idea what you are doing to me?"

She took her eyes off the thugs at the booth long enough to look into his eyes. For a heartbeat their mission was forgotten as she said, "Yeah, I do, because you're doing the same thing to me."

Zekk stared at her, then pulled her in for a blistering kiss that left them both breathless and dizzy.

Somehow through the fog a far away voice trickled in, "No, they're harmless. Just a couple of lust crazed spicers. Humans really have no sense of self-control."

The Kuati Senator chuckled and said, "Isn't that what we are counting on?"

"I suppose it is."

Jaina was back to nibbling on Zekk's neck, desperately trying to get her desire under control. Suddenly, the Senator pulled a small packet from his pocket.

As the Duros reached for it, she said, "It's going down!" She reached under Zekk's long black cape and pulled her lightsaber from his waistband. He pulled his from the same hiding place. Within seconds, they bounded over the low wall and the empty table to come up on either side of the booth with lightsabers in hand. They weren't ignited but they didn't have to be. The look of absolute horror in the human's eyes was enough to let them know he understood what was happening.

Jaina grinned and said, slightly more breathless than she would have liked, "Senator Miljar and Mr. Fartus, by the power granted to us as Jedi Knights by the GFFA, you are hereby under arrest for extortion and illegal arms dealing."

Several hours later after turning the Kuati and the Duros over to the GFFA security officials, they made it back to their hotel rooms. As she stepped up to her door, she turned toward Zekk. He was already punching the code into his door. Looking back at her key pad, she reached for the first number when she glanced at him again, meeting his eyes. They both remembered the heat created between them, and suddenly, they both wanted to pick up where they left off, albeit privately and without the distraction of a sting.

Jaina never remembered who moved first. Before she knew it, she was in his arms, kissing him with a burning passion. Somehow he got his door open and t they stumbled in, kissing and grabbing for each other's clothes.

"Jaina…" Zekk murmured against her ear as he pushed her little black dress up over her waist. His hands drifted down to her bottom and lifted her up. She answered by sucking on his exposed shoulder that she uncovered after she unbuttoned his shirt.

She could feel his incredibly hard erection pushing at her center as she sat on his hips with her legs wrapped around him. "Zekk, oh, Force, I want you."

He stopped his nibbling on her neck and looked at her. She, too, met his gaze and he whispered, "I've wanted you since you were sixteen."

"I know." She kissed him, long and deeply, sucking on his tongue and nipping at his lips. When the need for air brought them apart, she added, "I'm yours. Make love to me, Zekk."

He kissed her again as he stumbled over to the bed. She let go of his lips long enough for him to lay her down. Then she watched, mesmerized as he quickly shed his shirt. She watched his lean, taunt muscles move beneath his tanned skin. His eyes were pools of green fire as they watched her, watching him. When he reached for his belt buckle, she sat up and grinned wickedly at him.

Crawling over to the edge of the bed on her knees, she reached for the hem of her dress, and began to slowly peel it upward off her body. After she pulled it over her head and gave her long hair a seductive toss, Zekk moaned. She was only dressed in the skimpiest of underwear. He immediately reached for her breast, which were high and full, with the nipples standing at attention under the black lace.

"Oh, gods, Jaina, you're beautiful." His whispered voice shook with raw emotion.

She smiled and replied, "You aren't too shabby yourself, Zekk. But I want to see the rest of you. Com'ere."

He obeyed, and before either of them realized it, she had his pants off. Zekk closed his eyes and let his head dip back as she fondled his heavy manhood. She could feel the waves of intense pleasure that was coming off him. But suddenly he laid his hand over hers to still its stroking of his shaft.

Grinning sheepishly, he said, "You'd better stop that. I'm too close to coming for too much stimulation. Just seeing you like this makes me want to lose it."

"Oh."

He laughed and leaned down and kissed her. "Don't worry, I know a few tricks to make it last," he said in response to her disappointed sounding voice. "I intend to make every one of my fantasies come true tonight."

"Oh," she said again, this time with excitement as she felt his fingers begin playing with her nipple through her bra as his lips found hers.

Though Jaina had been with Jag a few times at the end of the war and later before they eventually called it quits, she had never been with another Jedi; actually she had never been with another man.

Zekk reached around her and removed her bra. He removed it with deliberate slowness. He'd seen her topless before, but never before like this. Never while they were about to make love.

Zekk stared at her for a long moment, the light was dimmed and she could just make out his passion darkened eyes as they drank her in. He then tucked his thumbs into the elastic lace of the top of her panties. Locking gazes with her, he gently pushed them down. He didn't look away until they were removed. Then he closed his eyes and stepped back a step. Opening them he shared at her as she stood on her knees there on the bed—his bed—in her naked glory.

He groaned and she moaned, partly from his reaction to her, partly to her reaction to seeing him standing there completely nude with his long black hair, which she had taken from its usual tie as soon as they entered the room, showering down over his shoulders. He was tall, handsome and proud. And so in love with her that he glowed from it.

When they locked gazes again, both of their restrains shattered. Zekk came to the bed and forced her onto her back. They kissed with a passion she had never felt before. His hands were everywhere at once it seemed. His touch was gentle, but it was all consuming. He broke the kiss and moved his mouth down her long, extended neck and down to the hard nipple he had just caressed into an aching point. As he sucked on one and fingered the other, his other hand caressed down her abdomen and then down.

He skimmed his finger over her swollen, wet center and then in.

"Oh…Zekk.." she moaned as he continued to stroke her, building her to the inevitable, incredible release. But he stopped and pulled his hand away. She whimpered a protest, and opened her eyes to watch him move over her. She ran her hands along his firm chest, through the dark, springy hair that dusted it and eventually around his neck, entwining her fingers into his long hair as it fell around his beautiful face.

She felt his engorged member pressing against her and opening herself to him. They locked gazes again and he smoothed the hair back from her face. Smiling, he huskily whispered, "Open your mind to mine, Jaya. I want to be completely one with you when I enter you."

She smiled up at him and let herself fall deeply into their bond. She was overwhelmed with his emotions, and when he closed his eyes and moaned, she knew that he was, too, by hers. When he opened his eyes again, he gently pushed forward, entering her with a tenderness that was unbelievable.

She felt every stroke magnified as she felt his sensations through the bond they had. And then it happened. She built to an incredible high, the coil was so tight that she screamed when it finally burst, leaving her floating on wave after wave of ecstasy.

He continued to move over her, murmuring her name, as if it was a prayer. She had no idea how he was finding the control, but he brought her to another shattering orgasm and then another. Finally, he threw back his head and let out a loud growl as he dove into her. She felt his impending release through the bond, and it was too much. She shattered again just as he did.

Eventually, she was lying wrapped in his long muscular limbs, sprawled over his bare chest and tangled in his bed sheets, breathing hard in utter sated contentment, and not believing Zekk was such an incredible lover with such raw power and emotion. They had managed to make love twice in a row.

He smoothed her long hair and whispered, "I love you, Jaina." She looked up at him and he smiled as he softly said, "Do you realize how long I've waited for tonight to happen?"

She smiled back at him and replied, "Yeah, I do." She stared at him for a long time. Although she loved him, there still was a part of her heart that would always belong to Jagged Fel. But Jag wasn't here. He was in the Imperial Remnant doing what he did best, while she was here doing what she did with the only person she ever wanted to do it with. Suddenly, after another heartbeat ticked off, Zekk looked away and she felt him slam his shields down. It reminded her terribly of the time they woke up entangled together in the Taat Hive.

"Zekk," she gently said. He met her gaze again, and she placed her hands on either side of his stubbly face. "I love you. I don't want to be alone anymore."

Breaking out in a smile that would rival the brightest sun, he said, "Do you really mean that?" She nodded and giggled at the heady feeling that came over her. Kissing her deeply, he flipped them over. Coming up to lay over her, with his long black hair falling all round them and his gaze intense, he emotionally whispered, "Jaina, marry me. Make the rest of my dreams come true."

She threaded her arms around his neck, and before pulling him to her for another fiery kiss, she murmured, "I will."

-x-

Two weeks later in a quiet ceremony officiated by her uncle Luke, and with only fa mily and friends as witness, Jaina and Zekk were married.

While standing near the back of the milling wedding guests, she watched a redeemed Tahiri dance with the groom. Suddenly, her mother moved over beside her. "Does he know you are still in love with Jag Fel?"

Jaina turned toward Leia and quietly replied, "What does it matter? I haven't lied to Zekk. I really do love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

Leia turned away as she slowly nodded. Then she said, "But you'd prefer if it would be Jag and not Zekk."

Jaina stared at her mother, and for a long moment, she hated her because she spoke the unholy truth that Jaina herself could barely admit to. She may love Zekk, she may need his friendship, she may even desire him as a man, but it was Jagged Fel who haunted her most erotic dreams with that damnable _what if_.

--TBC--

Thanks for reading...


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Please respond...I love feedback.

Also, for those who are reading this story, I've decided to change my way of posting this, breaking it up as it is on TF.N where it is being posted first. So, that means you may have seen this before, but I have made changes to make compliant with canon through _Fury_.

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_One Year Later, 42 ABY_

He held her as she cried, her tears soaking through his tunic. "Shhh…Jaya," he soothed as he kissed her forehead and rubbed her back. This was tough on him too. After getting married they decided not to wait to have a baby, but after three miscarriages, they now wondered if it would ever happen. This was the toughest one, though. Not only had she made it to week 21, they had both sensed the baby. They really were hopeful that this time everything would be fine.

_He seemed so strong_, she thought as another sob shook her with despair.

"I know," he whispered and finally he let his own tears go.

She pulled away and gazed deeply into his eyes. Eyes she imagined their son inheriting. "Zekk, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Zekk tenderly touched her face, wiping at the tears and saying, "Jaina, you don't have anything to be sorry for. It's no one's fault. I should be the one sorry, anyway, in that case. I'm the one who talked you into this last pregnancy."

"But you want a child. I want a child," she sobbed and buried her face into his chest again.

"Jaya, no matter what I will always love you with all my heart and soul."

She pulled away again and swallowed, "I know…I love you."

However deep inside, she died a little. She did love him, but she didn't love him with her whole heart. She still held onto the fantasy that had been Jagged Fel. It hurt her deeply that the one thing she could give Zekk, biology was denying her.

ooooOOOooo

_Fourteen Months Later, 43 ABY_

"Push, Jaina," instructed Cilghal as she watched the progress behind the maternity droid.

"AHHHG!" Jaina screamed and bared her teeth as the next contraction hit her. She tried to do as she was instructed, but the baby wouldn't budge. No amount of Force manipulation seemed to help, not even the pain medicines the droid had given her. She was exhausted, but fifteen hours of hard, problematic labor after a terrible, anxiety-filled pregnancy would do that. Though, it truly was a labor of love that she very much wanted to experience to its joyful completion.

"Master, isn't there something that you can do?" she foggily heard Zekk ask Cilghal between contractions.

"Master, as we feared the manipulation is not improving the presentation. The infant is still breech," announced the mellow sounding maternity droid, interrupting before Cilghal had a chance to answer.

With expectant eyes as only a concerned new father could, Zekk watched the Mon Calamari Healer. She thought for a moment, and then looked at the droid. "Emcee, we will have to surgically remove the baby."

"No," Jaina rasped as she gritted through another contraction. "I want to do it naturally."

"Jaina," Zekk took her clammy hand and she hazily met his eyes. "Jaya, we discussed this earlier. We tried; they can't get her turned. You're exhausted and we can't risk it anymore." He swallowed and kissed the backs of her cold fingers, before saying huskily, "I can't loose you or the baby."

That was enough to convince her. She was being selfish, not only was she putting herself through nearly unbearable physical pain, she was dragging her husband through an emotional turmoil, of which he already had enough.

"Okay," she murmured and tried to lick her dry, chapped lips. Then she looked up at Cilghal and said, "But I want Zekk to stay."

"If he wants, he may stay," Cilghal said as she began to prepare for the surgery. Zekk only nodded and gazed at Jaina.

The droid was already injecting Jaina's IV drip with a medicine that will halt her contractions and would sedate her. Another droid instructed her to roll onto her side. With Zekk's help she did, and within moments Cilghal was administering an epidural.

Jaina's misty gaze locked with Zekk's, while the medical team which now included three nurses preformed the surgery. Ten minutes later their daughter vociferously announced her protest of being physically ripped from her soft, warm cocoon.

The moment the squealing baby was laid on Jaina's abdomen, the feelings of pure joy and unbelievable love crashed over her, and she clung to Zekk's hand and cried.

-x-

Zekk stared at the baby in his arms and shamelessly allowed his tears run down his cheeks. It took them three miscarriages to finally have her. Jaina watched him with a heart full of her own love for the black-haired, blue-eyed, 3.9 kilogram, 0.56 meter imp. Her noisy sucking at the bottle of Jaina's breast milk showed her determination and stubbornness that Jaina knew was definitely a Solo trait. Zekk lovingly counted her fingers and toes for what must have been the tenth time. Her feet and hands were long and delicate; her length suggesting that she had inherited her father's height. It was that length which Cilghal indicated was probably the reason she hadn't turned while in the womb. It also was the reason Jaina had cursed her mounting discomfort for the past three months, as it became increasingly difficult to eat and breathe at the same time. But now, as Jaina gazed at her baby, all that was forgotten.

Suddenly Zekk looked up, and Jaina thought her heart would cease as she realized that just maybe she had been replaced in her husband's heart.

"Hope."

"Hope, what?" Jaina s miled as she inquired about his sudden reverence.

He grinned and said, "Hope, that's what I want to name her. Because that is the one thing, no matter how broken the road, we will always have. And you and she give me more hope than I ever thought I deserved."

--TBC--

Thanks for reading...


	4. Chapter 4

_Eighteen Months Later, 44 ABY _

She was nervous, there was no denying it, but ironically, it wasn't from the reason that she would have figured it would be from. She was nervous because she hadn't been to a party like this since she was a child, and then she was only on the sidelines watching the glamorous beings as they tried to wheel and deal with her mother when she had been the Chief of State. Sure, Jag Fel was going to be there, but oddly she wasn't nervous to see him, just curious. How exactly does one go from being a starfighter commander to being the vice-governor of a system of planets in only four years?

She looked at herself in the mirror again and patted her hair, which was done up in the most elaborate way she had ever had it. Suddenly, a low whistle sounding behind her caused her to slowly turn—only to have her own breath stolen away.

With his hair tied back, Zekk was dressed in a black tux that included a short cape and vest, his shirt made of shimmering silver silk. She instantly felt her heart skip a beat. He was so handsome.

"I often wondered what I missed out on at the party on Hapes," Zekk said, his voice slightly husky. He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her questioning expression, which replaced her one of surprise and desire. Then he snickered and added, "The famous red dress. Red is definitely your color, Jaina."

She blushed and said, "Thank you. You definitely aren't the vent crawler that crashed more than one of Mom's dinner parties, either. Force, Zekk, you look good." He blushed and looked away, causing Jaina to chuckle. Then she inquired, "But what famous red dress?"

Laughing as he moved into the bedroom, he took her into his arms and kissed her. Once breaking the kiss, he said, "The one that had my former competition drooling." She gave him a look of confusion and he kissed her nose. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"I have the foggiest idea of what you are talking about."

He let her go and moved to sit down on the edge of their bed and explained, "The red dress you wore on Hapes before Anakin's funeral."

"Oh, the dress Ta'a Chume had me wear to seduce Prince Isolder." Zekk wrinkled his nose at that and she smirked. "That was what I thought too." Then she remembered that Zekk hadn't seen her in the skimpy gown. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as she integrated, "Wait! How do you know about what I looked like in that gown?"

"Kyp and Jag, of course."

"Kyp and Jag!"

He laughed as he shrugged, saying, "When we were on the _Errant Venture_ that last time, you know, when we finally caught Alema…" She nodded and relaxed a bit, gingerly sitting on the edge of an old truck across from him. "Well, Jag and I met up, and after a few drinks and a round or two at a Sabacc table, Kyp found us. We began to drink and—well—after a few rounds the game was forgotten and we began to talk about you." Jaina looked at him incredulously, causing Zekk to chuckle. "Kyp told us stories about when you were little and he lived with you and your parents. He told us about how rambunctious you were."

Jaina smiled at this, but at the same time her heart was heavy, Zekk was very careful not to mention Jacen.

"I definitely know where Hope gets it," Jaina admitted, smirking.

"That wasn't all he told us, but as for the story about the red dress, that came from Jag. He's pretty talkative and funny when he gets drunk."

Jaina stared at him agape. "You got Jag drunk?"

Zekk smirked and shrugged. "Not by trying—at first. I think he forgot that he was drinking with Jedi or maybe he thought because he's Corellian he could keep up with us. He tried but when we noticed he was becoming much more animated—well, Kyp and I decided to see just how far we could take him. I learned a great deal that night, my dear wife." Jaina groaned and rolled her eyes, and Zekk only snickered. "Including, the impression that you made in the red dress." He then became serious and pinned her with a gaze that she had seen more than once over the past years of their marriage. It sent a shiver of desire through her. "Kyp and Jag both fell in love with you that night, if you looked as good then as you do now, I can definitely understand why."

Her heart raced as she gazed at him, and in a soft voice she asked, "They admitted that?"

He nodded and replied, smiling mischievously again, "Yeah, and, of course, I told them that I fell in love with you long before that, and when you had far fewer…emmmm…assets. Assets I'm looking forward to checking out later, by the way."

"Zekk! I can't believe you! You're lying." She laughed, trying to get her desire under control or they would never make it the banquet in time.

He shook his head and huskily replied as he continued to look her over, "No, I most certainly am checking out what you barely have hidden in that dress tonight. How did Kyp put it…" he pretended to think, and then before Jaina could say anything, he continued, smirking, "Oh, yes, something like—you can't squeeze even the Force in there with you."

She looked down at herself and had to admit the sleeveless, mermaid styled dress did fit every curve she possessed and the bodice did show a fair amount of cleavage. She was getting the exact response from Zekk she wanted, but she was still curious about Jag's and Kyp's reactions to the much more daring gown the former queen mother made her wear all those years ago. "You are impossible. I meant about what Jag and Kyp said. I don't believe you. How could you know all this without me ever even knowing about this conversation? If nothing else, you would have tormented Jag about it in front of me just to ruffle his feathers."

"As for ruffling Fel's feathers, I'm not sure anyone has that capability. However, the reason is because I think I'm the only one who really remembers it and I wanted it that way. By the time we began to confess our feelings for you, Kyp and Jag were pretty drunk and didn't notice that I had stopped drinking long before them. I had to help them to their cabins and put both of them into detoxification trances. That's why you never knew it happened. No hangovers. No memories."

"So," she said suspiciously, "it wasn't just Jag you wanted to get drunk." He smiled slyly and she burst up laughing as she stood. "Oh, Zekk, I never knew you had it in you. You sneaky Jedi!"

"When I want to be." He stood and moved over to the mirror to fix the knot of his tie. After a moment he said, watching her through her reflection in the mirror, "I do miss his stoicism. How you could put up with his stiffness is still something that I will forever puzzle over. But he did have a way of getting under my skin. Jag and I kinda came to an understanding after Kashyyyk and eventually we became friends." She knew Jag actually counted Zekk as one of his only friends. After a moment, he shrugged, "It will be good to see him again. Of course, I may be more jealous if he wasn't engaged to some baroness."

Zekk turned away from the mirror to take her into his arms again and kissed her deeply. After breaking the kiss, he sobered and asked, "Are you looking forward to seeing him again?"

She froze and stared at him. It wasn't what he said that surprised her, it was the way in which he said it, like a parent who knows that you did something wrong the whole time that you are desperately trying to keep it secret. He smiled and softly said, "Jaina, I know some small part of you still loves him, but I accept that. You chose me in the end. I was so afraid that you'd go off with him. Then you didn't and stayed and then we got married. You've made me more than happy. I won't lie to you, I wish you didn't dream about him, but I know that you love me. I feel your devotion to me through our bond. Probably if we weren't Jedi and had bonded so deeply, I wouldn't let you anywhere near your ex, but I know I make you happy and that is enough for me to allow you your occasional fantasy."

"Zekk," she breathed and placed shaking hands on his clean shaven face, cupping it. She had always tried to keep her secret out of their bond. Maybe they were closer than she ever realized. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I can't purge him from my system. Mom once told me that it may be because he was my first real love. My first lover. The man whom I would've probably married if things had been different. It's like Tahiri and Valin, I know she loves Valin, but she will always love my little brother. I truly do love you and it was you who gave me the most wonderful gift when we had Hope. Don't ever think that I would want to miss out on our life together or that it's not you I want to live my life with. You have nothing to be jealous of."

He kissed her tenderly, and Jaina had to fight the overwhelming desire that swept through her. She did love him and in the end she only wanted him. Zekk broke the kiss and whispered against her lips, "I know. I love you." Then she kissed him with a passion that promised much more later—a passion and a promise that he equally returned.

--TBC--

Thanks for reading...


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Please respond...I love feedback.

This had been the original second post...

For those who are reading this story, I've decided to change my way of posting this, breaking it up as it is on TF.N where it is being posted first. I have made changes to make compliant with canon through _Fury_.

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_Later That Evening _

The ball at the newly opened Imperial Embassy was an affair that few had seen in recent years. After years of strained relations, the Empire had officially rejoined the GFFA. And to celebrate, the Imperials were throwing a party to outshine everything in the past twenty years. Everyone who was anyone was there—the Chief of State, Senators, monarchs and leaders from individual worlds, Imperial Moffs and other government officials, military personnel and the Jedi Council members, which included Jedi Master Jaina Solo.

Jaina entered on the arm of her escort and husband, followed by Grand Master Luke Skywalker and her parents. They were announced and led to their table which would include Luke, Han, Leia and several other Jedi Masters and their dates. Kyp Durron, Kyle Katarn, his date Jan Ors, the Solusars and Cilghal were to be seated at the table with the Grand Master and the Solos. At the table beside them, the other Masters and either their escorts were also being seated.

As they settled down in their seats, Kyp looked around and said, "Leave it to the Imps to throw a party like this. I wonder how many backwater Imperial villages could live for a year on what will be wasted from this thing."

Kyle chuckled, as he pushed Jan Ors' chair in for her, and quipped, "Now, Kyp, remember, starving villages only happen on free planets, never those run so much more efficiently by Imperial bureaucracy."

Everyone laughed, but then Leia glared at them and that was the end of it.

After the politicians were done with the super syrupy speeches of pure flattery, for which those gathered dutifully applauded boisterously, the multi-course dinner of the finest foods from all over the GA was served.

Jaina felt several eyes on her and had a hard time concentrating on the conversation at the table or the delicious foods upon her plate. After several moments, Zekk leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Relax. Face it, Jaya, you are the most beautiful woman here." She looked at him, and he smirked. "And I'm the most envied man here because you will be going home with me."

She grinned lopsidedly and quipped, "I will, if I don't get a better offer."

Raising an eyebrow, he simply deadpanned, "Really? And who among these stuffed shirts would risk angering a Jedi?"

She shrugged, and delicately picked at the Mon Calamari oysters on her plate. "Exactly. Who would risk angering a Jedi—by not offering?" She raised an eye brow, and as she placed one of them into her mouth, looked at him.

Laughing, Zekk pecked her cheek with a light kiss. Whispering in her ear, he said, "But if you come home with me, I assure you, you won't regret it." When she shivered from the heat of his breath, he kissed her cheek again.

Han cleared his throat and Zekk grinned. He turned back to his father-in-law. Han leveled him a glare, but Zekk ignored it and simply went back to discussing last night's smashball game with Kyle, Kam, Luke and Kyp, while the women present tried to carry on their own conversation. Jaina went back to trying not to notice all the eyes on her.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes on her that she couldn't ignore. Glancing up from the table, she looked across the room to find the vice-governor of the Taroon System staring at her with a totally unreadable expression. She suddenly wondered if he had caught the exchange between Zekk and her. She had seen him earlier when he and his beautiful fiancée arrived with several other Moffs and Imperial officers, but hadn't made contact with him. Somehow, seeing him at the table with the highest ranking members of the Imperial government didn't surprise her.

He was dressed impeccably in the white uniform of an admiral, though technically he had been relieved of his duty as such when he was appointed Taroon's vice-governor. He was seated between his fiancée and Moff Lostin, the man he shared the responsibly of governing the Taroon System with. The lovely woman looked to be quite comfortable sitting with the leadership of the Imperial Remnant. Jaina wondered what Jag could possibly see in the auburn-haired Baroness as she laughed at something Moff Ephim Sareti said to her. She was filthy rich and from one of the most pompous fa milies in the galaxy. But then, who would have ever thought Jagged Fel would end up being one of the most promising Imperial rising stars. He was certainly one of Admiral Pelleaon's and Moff Sareti's favorites. And they were two of the most important men in the Imperial Remnant.

"Jag Fel definitely knows how to keep his company," Leia said matter-of-factly, and then placed her wine glass to her lips. Jaina looked at her mother and glared. Leia only raised an eyebrow.

Luke wiped his mouth and smirked, obviously missing the non-verbal exchange between his niece and sister. "Hard to believe he called himself a bounty hunter and worked for the Jedi only four years ago."

Han, who finally gave up trying to convince Zekk that his smashball team wasn't going to make it to the finals, snickered. "Well, look who he connected up with. One way to the top is by marrying your way there. And I think Baroness Ralene Tagge could get you there in a big hurry." He shrugged, and then as he lifted his glass to his lips, added, "Of course, so can being buddy, buddy with Pelleaon."

Kyp snickered and said something that caused everyone to laugh, but Jaina tuned out the conversation. She could feel Zekk watching her reaction, but he wasn't jealous, only curious. After a moment she said, "Excuse me, please."

As she stood, the men at the table did as well. Zekk asked, concerned, "Jaya, are you all right?"

She s miled and said, "It's warm in here. I'm going to the 'fresher and then out for a breath of air that hasn't been recycled through a bunch of hot air bags."

They all laughed except for Zekk. He gazed at her and softly asked, "Would you like me to come along?"

She laughed. "Zekk, I think I can find the 'fresher. Don't worry. I'll be back," she ended much more seriously than the words required and lightly kissed his cheek.

-x-

"I'm surprised that you were able to get away," she said without turning when she felt his presence behind her on the balcony.

"I needed some air."

She turned and s miled. "Funny. So did I." She paused and gazed at him intently. "You look good in Imperial white." She reached out and they briefly hugged. Moving away, she added, "It's nice to see you again, Jagged."

He stepped over to stand beside her at the stone wall. Glancing out over the Coruscant skyline before turning back to her, he s miled and said, "It's good to see you again too. So, I heard that you and Zekk have a daughter…"

She returned his s mile and proudly replied, "Yeah we do. Hope. She's a year and half old and is precociousness with a capital _P_."

Jag simply replied, "So, she must take after her mother."

She smirked and agreed, "Probably."

After another pause, she inquired, "And you're an admiral and the vice-governor of two planets, and…engaged to a member of one of the wealthiest and oldest fa milies in the galaxy…" She let her voice trail, her expression clearly indicating the unspoken question.

Jag laughed as he turned back toward the skyline. After a moment, he returned her gaze and said, "Okay, put like that you almost make it sound as if I…emmm…connived my way to the top?"

Jaina shrugged as she smirked. "Well, if I wouldn't know you personally…I could think that."

Jag shook his head. "I can assure you that wasn't what happened. One day I was commanding a wing of starfighters, the next I was captain of the _Chimaera_. Before long after that, I found myself made Admiral. And when the old Moff of the Taroon System was assassinated by the radicals trying to start a civil war between the two planets, I was stationed near Ruan and Bordal. The old man hadn't been well liked and left a lot of things on the two planets deteriorate. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and did the right thing."

"I have to hear this."

"I finished dispensing of the pirates that my fleet had been sent there to get rid of by Bastion. My intelligence agents discovered that these same pirates had been paying the old governor to look the other way. However, the pirates weren't the only problem. The old strife between Ruan and Bordal was heating up again. The radicals on both planets began to take over the Imperial garrisons on them. And since I was the highest ranking officer in the area and with the resources to put the rebels out of business, I was ordered to do so. Less than two weeks after my first companies of Stormtroopers set foot on Bordal and Ruan, I was engaged in brokering a treaty between the planets."

Jag paused and rubbed his jaw, in a show of unusual coyness, he said, "It turned out that I had become quite popular among the law abiding citizens of both planets. They wanted me to be named their governor, but since I had absolutely no experience in the matter of governing, the Moff's Council and Grand Admiral Pelleaon decided to name me vice-governor and appointed Hermon Lostin as the Moff of the system. Essentially, we share responsibility for the planets. I live in the planetary capitol of Vissaary on Ruan, while Lostin stays in the traditional system capitol on Bordal, his home world."

"And Ralene Tagge?"

He stared at her. "You really want to know everything?" She quirked an eyebrow in response. S miling, he said, "Okay, but first, you tell me about you and Zekk."

She leaned against the stone wall and looked sideways at him. "Oh, your story sounds so much more interesting. But as for Zekk and I, well," she looked away and softly said, "I decided to give him a chance with my heart. Nothing really to tell." She met his gaze again, concluding, "I decided that I didn't want to be alone anymore. He loves me and I him, and we have a beautiful little girl, who looks nothing like me."

After she finished, he took a deep breath as he looked out over the city of Coruscant. "We met at a party at my new estate in Vissaary after my appointment. She has many business interests in the system; so, she was, of course, quite concerned by who was governing the planets. Lostin she knew, while I was a complete nobody. My mother and Ralene were acquaintances and somehow, she managed to come to the reception as a guest of my mother's. However, I think Mother was hoping that I'd take an interest in the Baroness beyond what her business ventures could do for my new constituency."

"Which you obviously did," Jaina didn't keep her amusement from her voice.

"Yes, I did." He held her gaze for a long time, but when he spoke again, all of the lightheartedness was gone. "It was time to let go of what could have been. I—enjoy Ralene a great deal. We have si milar goals."

"But that isn't love."

Jag turned away and pulled on the hem of the already pristine jacket, but there was no jealousy or anger in his voice. They both knew that they would never have worked. Pinning her with a sea-green gaze, he said, "Well, I tried love once and it didn't work either. I'm happy, Jaina. As I hope you and Zekk are."

She s miled and reached out and laid her hand on his arm. "We are. I'm happy for you, Jag, as long as you are." Then she dropped her suddenly shaky hand and changed the subject. "Well, we had better get back. We wouldn't want anyone to miss us."

"Especially the future Mrs. Fel, I'm afraid she can be the rather jealous type." Jag grinned as he crocked his elbow. Jaina snaked her arm through it as they walked back toward the party.

Jaina held his eyes and responded, "Then we wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea, now would we?"

"Or either a certain tall Jedi with too much hair and only half a name?"

"Oh, he has a whole name now. Though, I'm not sure my dad is thrilled about the idea."

As they reentered the party, they both laughed in comfortable friendship.

--TBC--

Thanks for reading...


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Please respond...I love feedback.

This is a new chapter...

For those who are reading this story, I've decided to change my way of posting this, breaking it up as it is on TF.N where it is being posted first. I have made changes to make compliant with canon through _Fury_.

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_Five Months Later, 45 ABY_

"Daddy, come back for party?" Hope asked as they came to a stop before the ship which Zekk and his Apprentice were taking on their mission.

Zekk held his daughter close as she had her long arms wrapped around his neck. He nuzzled her nose with his. She giggled and shook her head trying to rub hers against his. Laughing at her predictable response, he said, "I wouldn't want to miss it for all the stars in the galaxy, Angel. You know that, but Daddy may not be home in time." He had nicknamed 'Angel', rationalizing that since Jaina had been a goddess, her baby would surely be an angel. Jaina never argued the point, but understood that it was his special name for her. Jaina and everyone else called her by her given name. When Hope's pudgy lower lip began to droop in sadness, Zekk s miled as he smoothed over her braids. "But you know that I will try. Nant and I will just have to hurry to catch those bad guys, now won't we?"

She nodded her head and gave him a toothy grin. Whether she understood that Zekk would likely miss her party or not, Jaina didn't know, but Jaina did know that Zekk had no intention of missing his baby's birthday, if it was within his power not to. Hope's second birthday was a month away, but she had learned early that when her parents went on missions, they were sometimes gone for a long time. The last mission Jaina and her Apprentice had taken almost two long months.

Jaina s miled as she watched father and daughter. Though, Hope was closer in personality to her, she resembled Zekk. She truly was a beautiful child. She had long black hair and emerald eyes, was taller than average and possessed Zekk's fine bone structure. Those attributes made Zekk a very handsome man, and would someday make his daughter a stunning woman.

After several more moments of Zekk teasing his little girl, he grinned at Jaina and conspiratorially said to Hope, "Make sure you watch Mommy while I'm gone."

Hope vigorously nodded her head, sending long wisps of fine hair everywhere. No matter how hard Jaina tried to tame the feathery tresses, they always managed to escape the method employed. Today, it was two pig-tail braids, which were quickly coming undone. "I will. Mommy bad."

Trying not to laugh, he said seriously, gazing into his matching pair of eyes, "She sure can be. But do you know how to make sure she stays good?"

Hope nodded her head again sending more ebony wisps into her face. "I stay good?"

"Yep. If you'll be good, Mommy will be good." Zekk looked over at Jaina as she stifled a snigger. Looking back at his daughter, he hugged her closer as he breathed in her scent. Then all humor was gone as he softly said, "I love you, Angel."

"Love you, Daddy." Zekk let his grip on her loosen a bit and she pulled away to look in his eyes again. "Daddy, sad."

Zekk weakly s miled and responded, "That's because I'll miss you and your very bad mommy." He tickled her then and she let out a fit of girlish giggles. Suddenly, Zekk pulled her close again and kissed her forehead.

She stopped laughing and kissed his cheek. Zekk let her down to stand on the hangar floor and turned to Jaina. He s miled as she stepped forward.

"So, I'm bad?" she quirked a brow at him as she went into his arms.

Sniggering, he pulled her close. "Sometimes."

"I'll have to remember that you like me to be well behaved the next time we meet again."

His grin turned sly as he said, "Oh, I think I can make some exceptions." Pulling her closer, he took possession of her lips and kissed her with a tender passion.

Jaina had only been back for a month and now Zekk was leaving. It was hard on them, flip-flopping their missions, but neither of them wanted to leave Hope alone without at least one parent for long periods. It occasionally happened, but they tried to keep those incidents to a minimum. They had decided that once she was enrolled in the Academy, in another two years, they could go back to going on missions together, but until then, they went separately.

They never made much of a scene saying their good-byes. They had done that last night and again this morning, but Jaina still never liked parting. She held him close for as long as she could.

After the banquet at the Imperial Embassy, she realized something. She didn't really love Jag any longer. Sure, she did love him at one time, but she didn't feel that same thing for him now. Some part of her may always feel something for Jag, but after that night, and every night after that, it wasn't Jag she wanted to come home to, it was Zekk. Before letting him go, she whispered in his ear as he bent over her, "Hurry home. I love you."

He kissed the top of her head and softly replied, "I love you." Then he let her go and looked over at his Apprentice who was trying his best to ignore his Master's intimate moments with his wife.

"C'mon, Nant," Zekk said to the wiry boy as he ruffled his hair. "Let's get going. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back."

"Yes, Master Solo," Nant intoned as they made their way up the ramp of the old Dactyl

Jaina scooped up Hope and watched as Zekk and the fourteen-year-old disappeared into the ship. Hope waved frantically and Jaina chuckled. After the ramp was closed, she turned and tickled Hope's belly. "Okay, now that Daddy's gone, let's go and see how much trouble we can get into."

She giggled and threw her arms around Jaina's neck. Meeting her mother's lopsided grin with one of her own, she said, "'Kay. We not tell Daddy we bad."

"That's my girl."

--TBC--

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Thanks for reading...


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** I've added cover art to this story. The link can be found in my profile.

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_Three Months Later, 45 ABY_

Jaina was on edge; she hadn't slept well in three weeks. And this meeting wasn't going to help the situation. She forced a smile and bowed to the ambassador, wondering again why the Council had been invited to meet with Imperial Ambassador Joh Grich.

"Thank you for meeting with me today, Masters," the middle-aged man said as he reclaimed his large nerfhide chair at the head of the conference table.

As the Jedi sat at the same time around the large, glossy, greel wood table, Luke replied, "We are always happy to foster good will between the Jedi and the Empire. I'm grieved to hear about Grand Admiral Pelleaon. I hope he soon recovers to full health."

The Imperial sadly nodded. "Thank you, Master Skywalker. Unfortunately, the prognosis is not good."

"That's too bad," Kyp chimed in sincerely.

The Imperial looked at Kyp and Jaina was surprised to not feel the usual resentment in the man's gaze. "Yes, Master Durron, it is. Admiral Pelleaon has done a great deal for the Empire and for the GA in the past thirty years."

Several of the other Masters also commented on the old man's recent declining health. One week ago Gilad Pelleaon suffered a massive heart attack. Though it was a tremendous shock and he would be greatly missed, Pelleaon had all but left the daily workings of the government to the Moffs, among whom Ephim Sareti was the most influential. Some said that once Pelleaon passed, he would name himself Grand Moff and take up the role as head of state.

Before her mind had a chance to roam to the thoughts that have been keeping her awake at night and eating at her nerves during her waking hours, Ambassador Grich announced, "Masters, as you are well aware of, there are several students to the Jedi Academy from the Empire."

"Yes," Luke said cautiously as he pursed his lips, "we are always happy to have apprentices from all over the galaxy. The Jedi serve all people, not just the GA. Though we have sworn to protect the Galactic Alliance, we will not disregard the will of the Force." Then he smiled and added, "Besides, the Imperial Remnant is now part of the GA."

"Yes, the Empire is," said Grich as he tightly smiled. Jaina didn't miss the gentle reprehend for Luke's slip regarding the naming of the ambassador's government. Then he went on, "For which we have been thankful for, as the Jedi have worked with our own forces to combat the growing pirate gangs along our borders."

"There has been a growing pirate problem all over the galaxy, Ambassador," Jaina said quietly, and barely keeping her displeasure at being there from her tone of voice.

Luke glanced at her and she felt his gentle probe. The pirate threat was what was keeping her awake at night, Luke knew that. Zekk had left three months ago on a mission to investigate arms dealing and pirating in the Corporate Sector. They haven't heard from him or his apprentice for almost a month. Jaina was becoming increasingly more apprehensive by the day. It wasn't like Zekk to not contact her at least once a week, and worse, she wasn't able to connect with him mentally either.

Being here for a meeting with an overly confident, indignant Imperial was the last place she wanted to be. If it was up to her, she would be in the Corporate Sector right now finding out what happened to her husband. And every Master present knew this.

After a moment of strained silence, Grich forced another tense smile and said, "Yes, Master Solo, that is so very true." Then he looked at Luke again and his expression turned more genuine—well, as genuine as any politician's smile ever could be. "And in a way this is why I've asked you here. The Moff's Council and Admiral Pelleaon have asked me to pass along a proposal that would greatly benefit all of us in the years to come. However, I think I'll let a mutual acquaintance present it to you."

The tall, graying man moved to a side door of the richly wood paneled conference room. It slid open allowing an Imperial officer to enter that the Jedi had come to know over the years since the Vong War. His name was Mic A'Loc and he was a Stormtrooper major who belonged to the 501st. A'Loc had served briefly with Jag Fel's oldest brother, Chak, early in his career. Later, he fought the Vong at Bastion and other places in the Remnant. After the war, he met Master Kenth Hamner who convinced him to come to the newly opened Academy on Coruscant. He did, and stayed for a year, training off and on while stationed on planet with Supreme Commander Pelleaon. But he didn't actively join the Jedi Order, he couldn't; he was still part of the Imperial Military and joining the Jedi, or any other organization, was against the rules. However, Luke and Kenth made sure Mic continued his training by providing all the information they could to the younger man. Now, Mic's training and skills were probably on par with most of the young knights. When he would come to the Temple occasionally to visit his two sons who were enrolled there, he was known as the Imperial Jedi.

"I believe you all know Major A'Loc," Grich said as the men moved into the room.

Luke and Kenth stood and smiled in greeting to the dark-skinned man, who returned the greeting with a bow and a wide grin.

"Major, it's good to see you again," Kenth said as he shook his hand.

"Thank you, Master Hamner. It's a pleasure to see you again as well," A'Loc said in his slightly accented voice. He was born and raised in the mountains of Bastion.

Jaina wondered, as the other Masters did, what a Stormtrooper major would be doing at the meeting, but she had a feeling that they all were about to find out. Grich instructed him to take the last remaining seat at the conference table. After he was seated, A'Loc surprised them all by saying, "Masters, I was asked by Ambassador Grich to discuss plans that I have presented to Moff Sareti and Admiral Pelleaon before his unfortunate recent illness. I know that he was hoping that he too could be here to discuss this with you."

"You're making some of us nervous, Major," Kyp said and Jaina wondered how much of it was a joke and how much was truth.

Mic smiled his infectious grin and said, "I'm sure I am, Master Durron." Then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Jaina felt him pull the Force to him, and even she had to admit, it was slightly disconcerting to see someone in an Imperial uniform do that. But his next words were even more so. "Masters, counting my sons, there are fifteen Jedi students who are citizens of the Empire that attend either the Academy here or at Ossus. I, for one, can relate to the hardship that presents at times for my wife and I. We can't always be here as much as we'd like, though we have much more opportunity to visit than some of the other families do. However, that isn't the only reason I'm making this proposal, I've discovered twenty others who could be trained as Jedi."

"So, are you now recruiting for us?" Kyle snickered; he never cared much for A'Loc. The former Imperial Strormtrooper didn't trust A'Loc and considered him a spy. Jaina had only met him a few times, but always found him reasonably amicable.

Mic met Kyle's snicker with a smirk of his own. "Yes, in a way, I am, Master Katarn." Then addressing them all he went on, "In two months I'm retiring early from active service. I'll have twenty-five years in, but I'm not planning on retreating to the Sartinaynian Mountains anytime soon. I want to start my second career; I'm officially joining the Jedi Order." At the Masters' collective surprise that only another Force-user could have sensed, he grinned and said, "Well, I'd like to, if you'll have me."

Luke smiled and replied for the group, "Of course, you would be welcome, Major. But what does this have to do with this proposal from Admiral Pelleaon?"

Mic took another deep breath and then said, "I would like to open a Jedi academy on Bastion to train students like my sons and others, like the twenty that I discovered."

Jaina wasn't sure she heard him correctly. She, Kyp, Corran and Kyle all said at the same time, "_What_?"

Mic looked from one Master to another; when he got to Luke, he paused and held the Grand Masters gaze. "This proposal isn't all that odd. Master Horn has a small academy on Corellia and Master Kirana Ti has one on Dothamir. Fifteen of the twenty Force-sensitives that I've found are adults. They have families and have lives in the Empire."

"Then they should remain living those lives," Kyle said dismissively. "We train very few adults these days."

"But there is no reason why adults can't be trained, correct? In fact, most of us here have been trained as adults."

Kyp shrugged and quipped, "There _is_ a reason for that, you know."

The novelty of the meeting soon wore off, and she found herself thinking about Zekk once more. She was worried about him and didn't like the ebbs in the Force. She reached out for him, and again, felt nothing. She knew he wasn't dead, she'd have known that. But there was only one explanation that made any sense as to why she couldn't tap into their bond, no matter how many lightyears separated them—ysalamiri—which worried even more.

"We will have to discuss this in detail with the rest of the Council before any decision can be reached, of course," Luke announced and stood, and she knew that the meeting was about over, which she was grateful.

The ambassador and the rest of them stood as well, she felt like dashing out of the room. The Force was getting more chaotic in the space in her mind where Zekk usually was. She knew something was happening and she hated not knowing what.

As they were about to exit the conference room with everyone saying their good-byes, she felt it. Like a blast from a pointblank blaster in the heart, the pain ripped through her, bringing her to her knees and a scream from her lips.

"_Zekk_!"

_I love you…Jaina…I'm sorry._

"Jaina, what's wrong?" Luke asked as he kneeled down beside her, wrapping his arm around her slender, trembling shoulders.

She frantically shook her head. She reached out into the Force again searching for her best friend, the man she loved, her lover and finding only emptiness. She turned tear-filled, aching eyes to her uncle and sobbed. In that one glance, Luke understood. He pulled her shuddering body to his chest and held her as she gasped, "He's gone. Zekk…he's…dead."

-- TBC--

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You know, I hated having to write that ending... 

I really liked Zekk in this... 

The next part will be a vignette that will show what happened to Zekk...Unlike the rest of this story, it will be told from Zekk's POV and not really be part of the story, because what he finds out will die with him. 

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Thanks for reading...


	8. The Darkest Knight: Zekk Vignette

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Author's Note:

This is the Zekk Vignette which, though is part of the story because it is what happens to Zekk, it set outside the general flow of the story. At this point, Jag will also have one such Vignette, though without the same outcome...

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**_The Darkest Knight _**

_Zoist, 45 ABY_

As Zekk pulled the hyperdrive lever to drop the Dactyl into real space, he looked over at Nant and said, "Be ready for anything. I don't like where we are, and I have no idea if those pirates know that we followed them."

"Yes, Master."

He and Nant had followed the group of pirates after they had jumped a freighter leaving Bonadan, heading for the Core. Once all the goods had been transferred into the main pirate ship, they simply bombarded the hapless Corporate Sector freighter until it exploded, taking its crew with it.

It wasn't the first time pirates destroyed their prey, but usually they are given reason too. However the freighter, after putting up an initial fight, was quickly put down and boarded. If anything, the thieves should have taken the ship and the crew, not destroyed it.

Zekk stayed a half light year away and watched on the scanner the whole transfer of goods, which took less than an hour to accomplish, quite impressive considering the size of the freighter. After the ship was destroyed and the pirates made the jump to hyperspace, Zekk marked the vector to follow.

That vector brought him out over the planet of Zoist. He stared anxiously out the viewport, reaching into the Force for any and all clues as the blue swirling settled into a star field with the blue and white marble of Zoist in the center, the system's sun a distant bright star beyond.

"At least the pirates weren't waiting for us," Nant said, relieved.

Zekk took the yolk of the ship as he kept searching both the space around them and the Force. "Don't be so sure. But we can't turn back now. We've been watching these thugs operate for two months now and we finally have a solid lead."

"Master, I only have one question."

"Yeah?"

"What's your plan?" Nant said as he stared out at the world taking center position in the viewport. "I mean, we don't even know how many there are."

Grinning, Zekk said, "I think my wife's impulsiveness finally rubbed off on me. You're right, Nant. We do need a plan. But we also need information. We aren't going to storm them, if that's what you are thinking. But I think this is probably their base. The last time we had tailed them they came this way, but I over calculated the jump. I forgot about Zoist. It does make sense to have a base here though."

"But no one lives on that rock, do they?"

"No. That's why it's perfect for a nest of vermin. Most navicomputers don't even have the coordinates for the place in their databases, which was why I missed it the last time," said Zekk as he watched the scanners. "Do an emissions scan and let's see where they landed."

"Are we gonna land?" Nant asked as he began performing the scan Zekk requested.

"No. But I want to get a mark on them before they figure out that we're here. Then we'll jump back out of their scanner's range and call for back-up from Bonadan Security." As Zekk watched the data come up on the monitor, there was a growing feeling malevolence in the Force. He was sure that it was the call of the ancient Sith world. There was a reason that no one came to Zoist. He still remembered Ben Skywalker's accounts of his weeks of being stranded on the planet and how even the rocks were seeped in darkness. Zekk looked up to the viewport and stared transfixed at the world, listening to a voice that wasn't a voice. The call seemed to become stronger and urged him on as he watched the world become larger as it gently hung in its bed of black space surrounded by bright stars.

Suddenly, Nant's voice jolted him out of his reverie. "Master! I thought you said we weren't going in!"

Zekk shook his head and realized that he brought them dangerously close to the planet and well in range of any ground based sensors.

"Stang!" he cursed, something he didn't do often. He quickly pulled away from the planet, but it was too late. He was well in the gravity well and around the horizon came two flights of fighters that looked like they were cobbled together from a refuse dump. "Uglies!"

"They're gaining fast, Master."

"I know." Zekk pulled hard on the yolk, but the Dactyl was anything but easily maneuvered. He brought the shields up and turned to the boy sitting in the co-pilot chair, and wished for all the world it was Jaina there instead. "Nant, get to the gun turret. Don't shoot until they do, but once…"

The explosion on the forward shields drowned the last of his statement out. Nant stood there frozen as the last of the flash dissipated from the cockpit. "Go!"

"Y-yes, Master."

The shields took another laser shot, while Zekk maneuvered away from another one. After what seemed like an eternity, Nant finally got a shot off from the ship's only cannon. Zekk twisted away from another shot, positioning the Dactyl to give Nant a better target. Nant didn't disappoint his Master either, as Zekk watched one of the "uglies" blow to bits.

"Hey, I got one!"

"Good shot, Nant, but don't lose focus. There're five more of his buddies out there."

Suddenly, Zekk felt the Force swirl, and before he could figure out what could be the cause, he saw the strange ship that he had released years before on the asteroid he, Jag Fel and Jaina had tracked Alema Rar. And with the recognition came the memory of his slip into the dark side.

"Ship," he whispered.

_I remember you too._

Zekk's moment of distraction was enough for the five fighters to surround the Dactyl. The shields were failing and Nant was unable to keep them away.

"Dactyl, surrender immediately." A male voice came over the comm. "If you do not, we will have no option but to destroy you. We have you out gunned and out numbered." Just as he said that another four fighters came over the horizon of the planet.

"Kriff," Zekk hissed, frustrated at the events and not understanding exactly how they got in this predicament. "Nant, stop shooting. Come back up here."

"Yes, sir."

Zekk felt a probe and looked at the odd amber ship, knowing that it came from it. However, it wasn't from the ship. As he strengthened his will, causing the whispery fingers to let his mind go, he realized the probe came from a sentient being.

_Follow me._

That was definitely from Ship, but that other presence was there too. With a mix of determination, curiosity and, with more than a little fear, he said, "Do I have a choice?"

_You always have a choice. It's the outcome of those choices that we have to live with, Darkest Knight._

"Who are you?"

His startled question was met with a sense of clearly feminine laughter. 

x

They were forced down onto the surface of the planet by the squad of cobbled together fighters and led by the strange ship.

"Master, I've never seen anything like that before."

"I have. It's a Sith Meditation Sphere," Zekk said as he prepared for landing.

"I didn't think there were any more Sith," Nant replied with large dark eyes.

"It doesn't take a Sith to fly that thing though. Only a Force user. Even Ben Skywalker flew it once, but I definitely want to get to the bottom of this." Zekk didn't tell his apprentice about the last time he saw the ship, or that he wasn't as confident about his proclamation that it wasn't a Sith flying, and the boy had no reason to further question him.

After shutting down the engines, Zekk and Nant pulled their lightsabers as they headed to the hatch. With sabers lit and held in a protective mid guard, the Jedi moved slowly down the ramp.

Suddenly, the Force seemed to be sucked away from them. Nant stumbled and Zekk instantly recognized what happened. _Ysalamiri. _

He looked around and saw six rough-looking men, three on either side of the ramp, moving toward them. One of them in each trio had an ysalamir on feeding a tube and it strapped to their shoulders. Then he looked ahead, to find a dark skinned female with striking geometric symbols tattooed across her nose. Her dark hair was cut very short, and Zekk recognized her immediately.

"Dician."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm flattered that you remember me, Darkest Knight. Please, hand over your weapons. We wouldn't want your Apprentice to have an accident just because his Master thinks he's a hero."

Zekk considered his options and realized that there wasn't much he could do. Reluctantly he looked at Nant as he deactivated his lightsaber and then handed it over to the advancing guard. Nant did the same, realizing that if his Master thought it best, he should too.

As the men stepped back, Dician continued smiling and said, "Perfect."

"I thought you were killed when the Shadow Academy was destroyed," said Zekk as a growing feeling of apprehension filled him. Dician had been one of the young Dark Jedi that served under him when he was at the Shadow Academy. He thought all of those he commanded were either destroyed with the academy or were arrested.

Smiling, she said, "Always the charmer. I can see why Brakiss liked you. But, no, I wasn't killed with that poor excuse of an academy."

"So, you're a pirate now?"

Again she smiled and replied, "I think we should take this conversation inside where we can get more comfortable. Catching up can be so much fun."

Moments later, Zekk found himself being lead into a drab temporary building and was bound to an apparatus by three of the guards. The room was obviously a torture chamber of some sort.

"Hope you enjoy your stay, Jedi," one of the guards said as he hit a switch.

As a jolt of electricity surged through Zekk's body, he let out a scream.

The guards laughed as another jolt hit Zekk causing him to spasm, but, being better prepared for the shock, he let it flow through him without calling out. Then suddenly he heard a high-pitched scream and instantly knew it was Nant, who was taken to another building.

As the pain wore off a bit, Zekk gasped, "Where's my Apprentice?"

The guards didn't even look at him. They just stepped back as Dician entered the shelter.

"Where's my Apprentice?" he asked again, this time with more force behind his voice, openly glaring at the woman.

She moved closer and said to the guards. "Leave us."

Zekk prepared for the Force to come rushing back, but when it didn't as the ysalamir bearer left, she said, "Such nasty creatures, but a necessary evil."

Then he saw that there were two more of the animals in cages near the walls.

He looked back at her and demanded, "Okay, what's going on?"

"Ahh…Darkest Knight Zekk, that would be telling, now wouldn't it? But I will, just because I think you will find it interesting."

"I'm all ears."

She gave him one of her sickening sweet smiles and moved closer to him. Another shock hit him and he withered, but refused to call out. She leaned down and Zekk noticed the amber color of her eyes. "I'm sure you are. So I will answer your earlier question. I am not a pirate."

"I think the Corporate Sector would disagree with you."

"Oh, that little thing. Well, call that supply procurement and diversion in its most elaborate form. You see, Darkest Knight, you and the rest of the Jedi are very misinformed."

Nant screamed again and Zekk seethed, "Where's Nant? What are you doing to him?"

She shrugged and said as if informing him of the weather, "He's enjoying the same entertainment as you. I wonder how long it will take to break him?"

"Dician, tell me what's going on. Why are you doing this?" Then Zekk experienced more torture as she stood back and calmly watched.

"Because you need to be shown the error of your way, Darkest Knight. You once held so much promise, and then you became a coward, too afraid of achieving true power."

"I'm a Jedi. I have all the power that I need."

"Really?"

"Get rid of your pets and I'll show you," he quipped, but as a jolt ran through him, his voice lost most of it sarcasm.

This torture session ran longer than before and Zekk thought he was going to pass out from it. However, as he was about to give in to sweet oblivion the shocks stopped.

Dician circled him like a hawkbat does its prey. Finally, she said as she leaned in from behind him, and just above a whisper, spoke into his ear. "So misinformed, Jedi. You think you destroyed the Sith, don't you?"

"Jacen Solo was killed and his apprentice Tahiri Veila has been redeemed."

Her low, silky laugh tickled his ear. "You really believe that? Perfect!"

"Dician?"

"Veregre, Lumiya, Caedus and Veila considered themselves Sith, but they are not the only ones."

Zekk was trying to figure out what she meant when, suddenly, his real torture began, and Zekk couldn't hold in the scream that tore from him, much less create a coherent thought. And over the pain he heard her say:

"Perfect."

x

Time passed slowly, but Zekk figured at least two weeks went by. After the sessions of shocking, Dician discovered other forms of torture. Zekk was in a rack on the day she finally spoke to him again.

"How are you today, Darkest Knight?"

Zekk could barely raise his eyes to look at her and rasped through his parched lips, "Why?"

She smiled her sickly sweet smile and circled him. "Why, you ask. I thought you smarter than that, Darkest Knight."

He tried to make enough moisture to speak. It had been at least three days since he had been given any water. "Is it just you sadistic personality, or are you torturing me for a reason?"

She shook her head as she stopped before him. "My Master is correct. This Jedi Order is as blind as the one of Old."

"Your Master?" Zekk knew that she was a dark-sider, she always had been, but she had a Master?

"Ahhh…My Master." Then she leaned in and stared into his eyes. She was so close that, if she desired, she could have kissed him.

Zekk stared at her. His shock brought a low snicker to her lips. "Poor Jedi, thinking they destroyed the Sith with the destruction of Caedus. As misguided as when Palpatine crowned himself Emperor and purged the galaxy of most of its Jedi."

"You're a Sith?"

She laughed again and stood up. Clapping her hands together, she crowed, "Finally! I was beginning to think Brakiss really made a mistake about you, Darkest Knight."

"But how? Did Lumiya train you too?"

She rolled her amber eyes and shook her head. "Well, I've been known to be wrong. No, I was not trained by her. In fact, I've never met her. My Master is far more cunning than any Palpatine left-overs."

Zekk was still reeling from this information and was trying to form his next question when she said, "Now, I think I've interrupted your entertainment for long enough."

"Wait!" Zekk called out as he thought about Nant. "Where's my Apprentice?"

She turned and smiled a smile that made Zekk's heart hurt. One thing that attracted Zekk to Nant was that they had similar childhoods. He was an orphan who grew up in the Vongformed undercity of Coruscant, and Zekk knew how harsh it was before the Vong touched it. Nant had told him things that made Zekk's skin crawl. He could only imagine how the boy held up to the torture, if he was receiving the same as Zekk. It didn't take a genus to figure out that Dician was trying to break them.

"He's doing rather well. You would be surprised at just how much anger and hate that young man has in him. Brakiss and Tamith Kai would have really liked him. And my Master will love him. Hope you have a good day."

Before Zekk could say anything else or let the heartbreak caused by his Apprentice being lured into the dark side touch him, the rack began to move, stretching his arms and legs far beyond anything natural. He couldn't help the scream of agony that erupted from him.

x

More days passed and Zekk thought he had to be on the edge of death. All he could think about in those days was his wife and daughter. He knew that he'd never see them again. That thought ate at him, feeding the anger and hatred that he felt growing within him. He was close to breaking, he knew. It would be so easy to give into the emotion. Even though he was blind to the Force due to the ysalamiri, if he gave into the emotion, once it was back it would be the dark side that would flood into him, not the light.

He was finally taken down from the rack and was bound by stuncuffs at his wrists and ankles by the same three sadistically sarcastic guards. To his surprise, he was then shoved toward the door of the torture room. One of the guards held a blaster on him and pushed him again when he didn't move fast enough. He fell out of the door, moaning in pain as he hit the ground. Another guard grabbed him by the back of his torn tunic and kicked him hard in his left side. The side that he knew contained at least two broken ribs. Zekk bit his lip to keep from yelling out. He hated giving them the satisfaction of knowing they were hurting him.

"Get up, Jedi scum."

As he was pulled roughly up to his feet, he saw Dician calmly watching, just as she did when these three would enter his chamber to torture him by using him as their punching bag. He suddenly burned with hate and would have done anything in that moment to kill her.

Zekk was no more than on his feet when he was shoved hard on his right dislocated shoulder. The sharp pain that stabbed through him nearly brought him to his knees again. But somehow he managed to stay upright and shuffled his feet forward.

"Where'ya takin' me," he said, his words slurred from the fracture in his jaw.

Dician smiled her sick smile and said, "Now that would be telling. But we are going on a little trip."

She then turned and headed toward a ship about fifty meters away. The guards pushed him again, and he groaned as he thought about the strength it would take to walk over the broken terrain with his dislocated right hip, thanks to the weeks in the rack.

x

Hours or maybe days later—Zekk didn't couldn't tell the passage of time on the ship—they finally arrived at their destination. During the trip, he was again placed in the apparatus that would give him intermittent electrical shocks.

The guards took him out of the torture device and bound him again—wrists and ankles. Then they shoved him out of the ship. He hadn't seen Nant since the day they arrived on Zoist, and as Zekk regarded the boy where he stood slumped over at the bottom of the ramp, he couldn't help but know that he was broken. It was pretty obvious that he had been tortured much the same way as Zekk. Even without the Force, Zekk could sense his deep hatred and anger for his captors, and especially Dician, just by the way his gaze burned into them.

Suddenly, four dark robed figures appeared out of the entrance of what looked like an ancient citadel. Dician instantly bowed to them but didn't say anything. They stopped just as they would have entered the bubble cast by the ysalamiri around them.

But the one in the forefront, whose most outstanding feature was his—or hers (Zekk wasn't sure)—white eyes, said in a hissing voice, "Dician, what is the meaning of this? Why do you bring these Jedi here?"

"I brought them for the Master. They have been broken. Zekk," she gestured to him, "was once known as the Darkest Knight at the Shadow Academy. He could have had been as strong a Sith as any of us, and I think he still can." Turning to Nant she smiled as she said, "And this is Nant, Zekk's one-time Jedi Apprentice."

"I'll kill you!" Nant seethed at Dician.

She only kept smiling. "Perfect."

"Nant, get control of your anger," Zekk calmly said.

"Sure, _Master_," the boy turned to Zekk and sneered. "I hate you too. If you hadn't gone to Zoist without a real plan, we wouldn't have been captured. I had a lot of time figurin' that out while they beat me to a pulp. I swore after I left the undercity that no one would ever beat me again."

Zekk stared at the boy as he openly glared at Zekk. Suddenly, White Eyes said, "Bring them. But your pirates will stay here." He turned and looked at one of the guards, who had guarded Zekk, and simply ordered, "Kill the creatures."

Moments later, Zekk and Nant found themselves in a courtyard of sorts. A balcony encircled the area, and on it were at least fifty of the dark robed figures. Now that Zekk had the Force back, the dark side was almost palpable.

Suddenly, from a doorway another shadowy figure emerged. Zekk watched him come forward and gasped at the sense of darkness that surrounded him. Then as he materialized out of the dimness of the shade, Zekk was astonished to see a tall being wearing vonduum crab armor. At first Zekk thought he was a Yuuzhan Vong. But then he saw his tattooed, clearly human shaped, chin.

As he approached, the cloaked beings guarding them and Dician bowed.

"What are these Jedi doing here?" he said in a deep voice that demanded to be listened to.

Dician edged forward. "Master, these Jedi had been trailing my activities in the Corporate Sector. They followed me to Zoist. There we captured them."

"Why didn't you kill them?" The Sith asked evenly as he looked at Zekk.

"Because, Master, I knew Zekk when I was at the Shadow Academy. He was very strong in the dark side and was known as the academy's Darkest Knight. I felt that he could be turned back to the dark side and serve us."

Krayt gazed long and hard at her, and his intensity caused Dician to take a step back. "You are aware of the policy, Dician. No Jedi are to be brought here. My work is too important for them to discover us before I'm prepared. I was not available when the Dark Jedi Alema Rar was here, or she would never have been allowed to escape. I thought your punishment then had taught you the error of your ways." She took another step back; it was almost as if she knew what was coming. "You have threatened my years of work for the last time."

And with that he let out a stream of blue Sith lightning. Dician flew several meters into the air to land on her back against the support pillar of the balcony. With her incapacitated, though far from dead, the Sith Lord turned to Zekk. He removed a lightsaber from one of the other beings standing guard, and then deposited it on the course, uneven pavement of the courtyard about halfway between Zekk and Dician.

Zekk instantly felt the pull of the dark side. He wanted to kill her for everything she had put him through.

"Unbind them," the Master said and immediately Zekk and Nant were freed from their binders.

The Sith turned to Zekk. "You can end it here. Kill her."

Zekk stared at the lightsaber. He felt his good arm reach up to call it to his hand. But he stopped, before the Force was totally gathered within him. He suddenly felt Jaina's weak brush against his being.

_Jaina…_

_Hope…_

The sudden image, of him hunting them down to kill them, filled his mind with Jaina's brown eyes filling with dread and pain. Immediately, he dropped his hand. As much as he hated the woman on the ground for what she did to him, he couldn't kill her. To do so would only turn him into the very thing he despised.

"No," he said simply and turned toward the armored Sith. "I am a Jedi Knight. I will not kill out of anger. I will not become your Darkest Knight."

Before the Sith could speak, Nant ran forward screaming, "Coward! Then I'll kill her!" The lightsaber flew to Nant's outstretched hand and was instantly ignited, producing a crimson blade.

Zekk called out to him, "No, Nant! The dark…"

He never got to finish the thought, as the blade easily sliced through the long neck of the wide-eyed woman.

Still brandishing the activated blade he glared at Zekk menacingly. The Sith simply commanded, "Finish it."

The only thought that went through Zekk's mind, as he watched his former Apprentice charge him, was of his wife and baby. Zekk tried to dodge the wicked slash of the boy, but his injured hip couldn't take the sudden pivoting and simply gave out, landing Zekk in a heap on the stone floor. He knew he was done and was glad that he couldn't watch the blade come toward him. He merely took a deep breath and gave everything of himself up to the Force. He was filled with the warm glow of the light side and never felt the Sith blade burn through his back and into his heart.

Although, Jedi Knight Zekk hadn't been promoted to the rank of Master yet, his entire body and soul went into the Force. All that remained was his tattered Jedi robes and one last thought:

_I love you…Jaina…I'm sorry._

--end of vig--

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Next post will go back to Jaina's story...

Thanks for reading...


	9. Chapter 8

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**HPgirl7:** Thanks for reading!! I perfer J/J too...and the last part of this story is all J/J...starting with this chapter...

**CCP:** Hey!! thanks for reading!!

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_One Year Later, 46 ABY_

Jaina looked up from her datapad and instantly the familiar pain touched her heart. The past year had been a hard one on her and her daughter. She moved her gaze over to the raven haired three-year-old playing quietly in the corner of her office. She took her everywhere and already the little girl was learning to do things that normally she would not have learned for at least one to two years from now. Jaina watched as a toy X-wing floated into the air and began to "fly" around the little girl.

She smiled at her daughter's antics. Hope was extremely strong in the Force and the fact that she sat in with Jaina as she taught her classes only allowed the toddler to learn things that she normally wouldn't know yet. As Hope made another small fighter, this one a TIE fighter, which had been gifted to her on her birthday by one of Jaina's students, swoop after the X-wing, Jaina grinned at Hope's squeal of delight.

She had been in the Empire for almost six months. She thought back over the past year and sighed as she remembered…

Those first few months after Zekk's death were nothing but a blur. When a Jedi team was assembled to go out to the Corporate Sector, hoping to find out what had happened, Jaina had instantly wanted to go along, but Luke helped her realize that, as much as she may want to go, she was needed far more at home. Hope had felt her father's death as profoundly as Jaina had, but the two-year-old had no concept of what had happened to her father except that he was gone and everyone around her was sad. Luke forced Jaina to understand that to leave Hope now would lead to the little girl feeling abandoned by both her parents no matter how well Leia took care of her. In the end, Luke, Ben, Kyp and Han took the _Falcon_ and searched for the truth of what happened to Zekk and his apprentice, Nant.

Three weeks later they found the Dactyl Zekk had taken from the Jedi hangar floating in the asteroid belt of the planet of Geonosis, but there was no sign of the Jedi and no explanation as to why it would have been here thousands of light years away from Bonadan, the place Zekk's last transmission had been from before he disappeared from the Force a month before his death. The ship was damaged by repeated bombardment from the asteroids and its hull was compromised. Han was able to get close enough to grapple the broken ship and tow it from the melee of spinning rocks the size of the _Falcon_ itself. Once free, Luke, Kyp and Ben suited up and entered the Dactyl. The only thing they were able to find was amazingly Zekk's lightsaber which had been wedged between a buckled beam of a bulkhead and the deck. Kyp was able to retrieve it and gave it to Jaina upon their return. Nothing else was saved since it was obvious that all else in the ship had been sucked out to space.

Jaina glanced up to the shelf where her husband's lightsaber lay beside the last holo of him taken with Hope only weeks before his mission. He didn't even know Jaina had taken the hologram of him sleeping with Hope sprawled out over his chest, his arms around his daughter as they slept. She smiled at the happy memory and looked back over at Hope. Now she was playing with a doll that Leia had given her. She marveled at the girl and how she could be pretending to be "flying" toy starfighters in an intense dogfight one moment and playing mommy the next.

It still amazed Jaina at how much Hope looked like Zekk, but she was glad for the resemblance, it was the one thing of her father's no one could ever take from her.

Jaina's mind again wondered back to the dream she had three months after Zekk's death that brought her to where she was now. In the dream Zekk appeared to her and told her that she was wallowing in her despair and grief, which she admittedly had been. He made her realize that she had to move on, that what she was doing wasn't good for her or for Hope. Then before she could question him, he told her that he would always love her and Hope, but he hoped Jaina would live her life again, and then he disappeared and was replaced with an image of Jaina standing in the middle of a strange classroom teaching students whom she didn't recognize.

When she got to her office in the Temple the next morning, she was surprised at a message waiting for her. Mic A'Loc wanted to meet with her. She almost brushed the former Stormtrooper major-turned-Jedi Knight off, but, before she instructed the assistant she shared with three other Masters to send off an excuse, she had a feeling that the Force wanted her to meet with him, and instead she agreed to see him later that day after her Council meeting. Two weeks later, she and A'Loc presented a formal proposal to the Council that would open a small Jedi academy on Bastion. The proposal was followed a few weeks later with a trip to the Imperial Remnant by Luke, Jaina, Kam Solusar and Mic A'Loc. After meeting with the new Grand Moff Ephim Sareti, who, after Pellaeon's death, became the head of state, and with many of the perspective students, the Jedi decided that maybe it was better to train these Force-sensitives in the ways of the Jedi than not. Most of the adults Mic A'Loc had identified were military, pilots and Stromtroopers, but what convinced Luke was Sareti's story about security arresting a man who had possibly touched the dark side when he killed his wife. The man had no formal training, but somehow had been able to teach himself enough to cause harm to others. Sareti's argument was that due to the old Empire's distrust of the Jedi and, likewise, the distrust of the Jedi of the Empire had made it difficult for Force-sensitives to be found and trained, but times had changed. The Empire was part of the Galactic Alliance and that there was no reason not to train their Force-sensitives to serve a larger purpose.

After returning to Coruscant, Jaina volunteered to be the Master to open the academy in the Imperial City of Bastion. Her family was concerned she was trying to find a way to run away from the pain and grief, but that wasn't the case. She had come to find her purpose again. She still grieved the death of her husband, but over the months since her dream, she had found less and less pain in her memories and more love and joy. Soon she missed the holos she had buried away from sight. She pulled Zekk's lightsaber from the dark drawer she had hidden it in after Kyp had so lovingly presented it to her, and put it on a shelf where, not only she could see it, but also Hope. She remembered the holos on the holocam she hadn't touched since Hope's birthday, and had them recorded onto disks and cubes that she would play or display in her apartment and Temple office. And she found delight in the fascination Hope had in the man she was quickly forgetting. Jaina decided then that she would never let Hope forget her father, no matter how much pain it would cause Jaina.

One such forgotten holo had been the last one with Zekk and Hope sleeping. She didn't realize she had stood from her chair and moved to the shelf as she remembered the past months, until she looked at the holo in her hands. She fought the wave of grief as she touched the hologram of Zekk's peacefully sleeping face and hoped he found the same peace in death.

Tomorrow marked the one year anniversary of his death.

Suddenly, a chirp from her desk comm brought her out of her thoughts. She carried the holo with her and lovingly sat it in the corner of her desk. Taking a deep breath and one last look at the man she loved, she answered the comlink.

"Master Solo, here."

"Jaina?"

She instantly sat up. She hadn't spoken to the latest Moff since his brief comm call a year ago after the news of Zekk's death had reached the HoloNet. "Jag, is that you?"

"Hello, Jaina, I was wondering if I could visit you and your daughter. I'm here on Bastion for the Moffs Council and would like to see you both."

She took one more glance at the holo and took a deep breath. "I'd like that."

She could hear the smile in his voice as he asked, "How about tomorrow? I'm free and thought I'd take you and Hope to the zoo."

She laughed when Hope let out a squeal of delight. "Mommy, can we? I want to see the animals. You promised to take me, but you haven't yet."

"Well, Moff Fel," Jaina said as she smiled at the little imp excitedly bouncing beside her desk, "I think that's your answer."

"Good. I'll pick you up at 0900. I just need your address."

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	10. Chapter 9

_**HPgirl7:** _Thank you for reading...I'm thrilled that you are enjoying it.

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_The Next Day _

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Angel," Jaina answered as she deftly plaited Hope's long, think, untamable hair into her usual pigtails, one on ether side of her head.

"Tell me again, who's the man taking us to the zoo?"

Jaina finished applying the band to the end of the braid and came to lean down before her daughter as she sat on the edge of the refresher sink. Taking a deep breath, Jaina explained as best as she could, "Moff Fel is a good friend of mine, and he was a friend of your daddy's too. We fought in the last couple of wars together." Though that wasn't exactly true, since they had been enemies during the Swarm War, she felt that would be too much to explain to a three-year-old.

"But I know all your friends."

Jaina smiled as she tugged on Hope's left braid. "And you are about to meet another. Moff Fel moved back to the Empire before Daddy and Mommy got married, but we've stayed in touch." Again she stretched the truth; she had only spoken to Jag twice in all the years since he left her apartment after the end of the war.

However, most of the reason for the lack of contact between them had been because of her; she had wanted to distance herself as far as possible from him and the love she had still felt for him while married to Zekk. Even his call last year, after hearing about Zekk's death, hadn't made reconnecting their friendship seem right. Zekk's death was too new to her, but she had needed that hour conversation with her friend, it helped her to begin healing. Since she too moved to the Empire to open her Jedi academy, she hadn't realized how much she neglected her friendship with Jag until yesterday's unexpected call. She was glad that Jag still considered her enough of a friend to look her up.

Finally, she held Hope under her arms and lifted her off her usual hair-styling perch and kissed her forehead. As she deposited her on the tile floor, she added, "Now, let's go finish getting ready." Then to herself she deadpanned, "I'm sure Jag hasn't changed his nasty habit of punctuality since I've last seen him."

They entered the living room and Jaina instructed Hope to have a seat on the couch as she went to find her shoes. She looked in the usual spot, beside the door, but they weren't there. After remembering that Hope had been asleep last evening when they came home from the academy, Jaina looked in the girl's bedroom. However, the shoes she wanted weren't in there either.

"Stang," she cursed to herself wondering where they could be. Coming back out into the living room, Jaina asked the little girl sitting patiently on the couch playing with a small stuffed whisperkit. "Hope, do you know where your shoes are?"

Hope looked up at her and shook her head, sending her braids a flying around her face and head. "No, Mommy."

"Well, they have to be here somewhere." Jaina then proceeded to search the living room, starting with the corner that was dedicated to Hope's collection of TIE fighters, X-wings, a few flashy air speeders, a toy replica of the _Millennium Falcon_ and her dolls, doll furniture and doll clothes.

But there were no little girl's shoes.

_Shivit! Jag will be here in less then ten minutes!_

Almost giving up on the practical walking shoes that she had wanted Hope to wear, she decided to look one more place. Remembering that Hope and she had watched an animated holo after her nap and dinner, she decided to look under the couch.

But again no shoes.

Then she looked under the lower shelf of the end table.

"Found them!" Jaina announced and Hope clapped her hands together.

"Yay!" both mother and daughter squealed.

But, as Jaina was getting up, her eyes fell onto the hologram sitting on the table next to the lamp, and her breath caught.

It was a holo that had been taken only a few days after Hope had been born. The baby lay in Jaina's arms while she sat on a chair at the table in the main hold of the _Falcon_. Zekk stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at Hope. It was a horrid picture of Jaina, but even she could see in her still bloated face the love that shown there for the little girl cradled in her arms, while Zekk all but glowed with fatherly pride.

And as she looked at Zekk, Jaina's heart beat with the old familiar ache of not having him with her. She sat back on her hunches and dropped the shoes which were in her hand and instead picked up the holo.

"Mommy, why are you sad?" Hope asked as she stood beside Jaina, with her small hand on her shoulder. "You still miss Daddy?"

Jaina tore her eyes from the holograph to look at her daughter. "Yes, Angel, I miss your daddy. I loved him very much and today is very hard on me."

Hope cocked her head to the side and looked at the holo. "I don't like you being so sad. Find a new daddy someday?"

Jaina put the frame back in its place and took the little girl into her arms. "Oh, baby, it's not that easy. Your daddy will always be your daddy. I don't ever what you to forget him."

Just then the doorbell rang. Jaina pushed Hope away slightly and stood up. After telling her to sit back down on the couch, she went to the door to open it. Taking a deep breath, she palmed the pad and the metal door slid open.

Jaina was rather taken aback by the man standing on the other side. He was dressed in tan trousers, a plain white shirt and black leather jacket. His hands clasped behind his back as he waited for her to open the door and one of his half-smiles played on his lips. But what struck her was the air of power that swirled around him. He was being touted as one of the greatest governors the Taroon System had ever had in the year and a half that he had held the position after his co-governor stepped down after his wife and two children were killed in a speeder accident. Now Jag governed the entire system on his own and as the system's Moff.

"Hello, Jaina."

Jaina caught her breath, a breath she didn't even know she had lost. "Jag, hi. Come in. We're just about ready."

Jag stepped in and the door closed behind him. Smiling, he said, "Some things never change."

Jaina tossed him a mock glare and he laughed. Suddenly, Hope appeared before Jag and looked up at him, her head cocked to the side as she regarded him. Jag kneeled down and grinned as he held out his hand. Hope took it and Jag said, "Well, you must be Hope. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally get to meet you."

"Hello, Moff Fel. Mommy said you and her and my daddy were friends."

Jag glanced up at Jaina who was moving toward the couch. "Yes, we were. Your daddy was a great man."

Hope then leaned in and said just loud enough for Jaina to hear, "Today Daddy will be gone for a year. Mommy is sad. Can you make her happy again?"

Jag looked up to find Jaina staring at him. He answered, never taking his eyes from hers, "I would like to try."

"Good. Now I better get my shoes on or Mommy will be mad."

With that, she turned and skipped back to the couch, climbed up in her usual spot, and waited for Jaina to recover from what she had just overheard. It somehow both broke her heart and oddly excited her at the same time. Standing up, Jag shrugged and gave Jaina a smile. She smiled back in silence and turned to put on Hope's shoes as she wondered exactly what Jag was up to today.

The day had been fun; the Imperial Zoo was one of the most complete in the galaxy, only Coruscant had one that was larger. But after six hours, Hope finally tuckered out and fell asleep. Jaina looked over at her daughter as she was being carried in Jag's arms with her head on his shoulder.

"We could wake her up or rent a stroller. I should have been thinking that she would never make it the whole day without wanting to nap after lunch and brought hers," Jaina apologized not for the first time since Jag took her from Jaina after she became fussy and started dozing off. Jaina had been happy when he offered to take her. She wasn't that heavy, Jaina could always use the Force to help her carry her, but she was getting too tall as compared to Jaina's petit form for her to carry her comfortably.

"She's not bothering me. I'm amazed that she has taken to me so easily," Jag responded as he gently soothed Hope's back. Then he suggested, "There's a bench, let's sit for a while as she sleeps. Then I'll take you two to dinner."

Jaina laughed as she sat down on the bench beside him. "You really do have the whole day free. I'm surprised; according to the HoloNet and the tabloids if it's not the Moffs, or your planets keeping you busy, it's your fiancée."

Jaina watched as Jag looked away from her to look back to the sleeping child cradled in his arms. "You know you can't believe everything you read or see in the HoloNet."

Taking a deep breath, Jaina said, "I want to thank you, Jag. Today would have been almost unbearable without your wonderful distraction of the zoo. That's why I took today off from the academy."

Swallowing, Jag reached over and took Jaina's hand from her lap. She flicked her eyes up to meet his and he sadly smiled. "I knew today would be brutal on you, Jaina. I haven't been the friend I should have been. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to call you or show up at the academy, but I…" He looked down at the child lightly snoring against his chest and shoulder. "She is very much Zekk's child. Besides looking like him and having his height, she's practical and forgiving."

Jaina stared at him taken aback. "Jag?"

He met her eyes and shrugged his free shoulder. "Zekk and I had become very good friends, Jaina, despite our mutual interest in you. I'm sorry he's not here to watch her grow up."

Jaina watched as his eyes fell upon Hope again and he continued to hold Jaina's hand. She suddenly felt something akin to longing in him and wondered about it. However, Jag had always been good at shielding his emotions, even from her and the impression didn't last but a few moments. During the day as they viewed and fed the animals, their conversation stayed on safe topics—Jaina's academy, Jag's trials and triumphs as a governor and Moff, and their families. However, not once did he mention Baroness Ralene Tagge, his fiancée who shared his mansion at his estate in Vissaary, the capital of Ruan and the new governmental seat for the system.

Letting out a breath, she softly asked, "Why haven't you married, Jag?" He stoked Hope's arm with the hand wrapped around her and Jaina felt his longing again. "You'd make such a wonderful father."

He stopped his motion and looked out over the crowd that bustled along the paved path between the holograms of extinct animals as they appeared in their natural habits. "I doubt that I will ever have that privilege. Ralene is quite adamant that she wishes not to have any children. She'd rather leave the responsibly for providing an heir for the Tagge fortune and title to her younger sister."

"And what about you? That seems rather selfish. You always wanted kids."

He looked over at Jaina and she was struck by the sadness she saw flash in his green depths for a few fractions of a heartbeat. "At one time I did. Now I think children would just complicate things. I'm actually happy with Ralene's decision."

They sat there for another few moments in complete silence, but Jaina suddenly wondered if Jag truly was happy with his life. She remembered the ball at the Imperial Embassy and his comment about not needing love as long as he was happy.

"Jagged," she paused, allowing him to meet her gaze, she squeezed the hand she forgot she still held and went on, "what's really going on? If you really don't love her, why remain with her. You've been engaged for years."

He took a deep breath, and as he let it out, he softly admitted, "I haven't married her because I don't love her. I don't know if I'll ever love anyone again." He looked away before beginning again. "But, before you lecture me on my lack of emotion for her, please try to understand that I do consider Ralene a wonderful friend and she loves me," he added quietly. "I just can't bring myself to leave her even if I can't ever love her." He met Jaina's eyes again and she was astonished by the storm she saw in them. "I don't want to hurt her."

"Jag?" she whispered suddenly thrilled and afraid at the same time, not for what he said, but for what he didn't.

He released her hand and patted it as he smiled, the storm in his eyes easing. "I'll be okay, Jaina. Just don't stop being my friend."

She simply stared at him and softly replied, "Never."

--TBC--

**Author's Note:** The next part will be a vignette that will center on Jag.

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	11. Every Long Lost Dream: Jag Vignette

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**CCP:** Thanks...Yeah, hopefully they will...

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**Author's Note:** This is the vignette from Jag's POV. As with the one from Zekk's, it is part of the story, but outside Jaina's "snapshots".

**_Every Long Lost Dream_**

_One Month Later, 46 ABY_

He watched as the stars, which made up the sky over Bastion, blurred and then turned into the streaked bluish pattern of hyperspace. Letting out a long sigh, he sat back into the pilot's seat of the yacht and undid the crashwebbing. He usually found comfort in the sleek design and speed of the ship Ralene had given to him on their second anniversary, but he didn't today.

_Anniversary?_ Jag shook his head. They weren't married, but they still celebrated an anniversary. Just five months ago he'd given her a diamond and sapphire ring, telling her the sapphire reminded him of her blue eyes. She had been delighted; she loved it when he did such romantic things. She surprised him with having a gold pocket chrono made with a etching of his chateau on it. After they exchanged gifts, they spent the entire weekend in bed playing lovers' games. Were they really any less married then his sister Wynssa and his friend Rohn Vetter?

Sometimes he wondered why he ever asked Ralene to marry him. They had become fast friends and lovers, but he had lovers over the years before Ralene, not many, but enough to be able to separate lust from love. But then Ralene told him that she loved him. He'd been lonely, he'd been hurt by his own doings, and he finally realized that Jaina was never going to be his. She belonged to Zekk. She was happily married. Did he not deserve any less happiness? He enjoyed Ralene; he liked her wit, obstinacy and guile. She was beautiful beyond compare—_except to Jaina,_ he thought,_ no one is as beautiful as Jaina._ But there were sparks between them. Ralene could incite lust in him. Their sex life didn't suffer from his lack of true love for her; maybe it was because she loved him so much. Maybe he had hoped that her love for him would be enough. Whatever the reason, he had asked her to marry him and she willing agreed to wait until he was ready to finally take the final step.

It was that final step he'd never been able to take.

Had he really been engaged to the heiress to the Tagge fortune for four years? He remembered back to when the news of their engagement hit the Imperial HoloNet. Immediately, speculation was put forth that he was marrying Ralene for her money and for the political power her family held over the Empire. Her father had been a Moff under Pelleaon for years. But the media soon realized that Jagged Fel didn't need the Tagges' money or their power. He had all of that on his own, and he didn't he show signs of being in a hurry to marry her.

Maybe he was holding out hope that someday…

_She no longer belongs to another._

He shook the thought from his head. No, he had to let go of the past. He could be Jaina's friend, but nothing more. Jaina still loved Zekk. He had to let go of the lost, impossible dreams…

_Besides Ralene loves me…_

He usually enjoyed going back to Kuan, but this time his heart was heavy. Every day he and Jaina spent time together. They went to all sorts of attractions and places. All of them places Hope would enjoy too. He was beginning to really love that little girl. He didn't want to leave the fantasy he was living while on Bastion. He wanted to believe that Jaina was his, that Hope was his, but her likeness to Zekk was almost a cruel reminder that she didn't belong to him, that Jaina wasn't his, and that he should be somewhere else. He belonged, if not to Ralene, to the planet he now called home and duty called. He was the governor, he had to go back.

He had the capitol of the system reassigned to Kuan after Governor Lostin resigned. During his time as an admiral he had become quite wealthy with smart investments and some good advice and from his father. By the time he was talked into becoming the vice-governor, he had accrued enough money to purchase a beautiful estate near the planetary capitol of Vissaary. His mansion—well, actually, it was a castle, or, as the locals called it, chateau—had been built nearly a thousand years ago by a Kuani ruler. Attached were vast lands containing fruit orchards and struguri vineyards which produced some of the best wines in the Empire.

He had to laugh as he remembered Jaina's response to him describing his home during one of their many evenings together during his month on Bastion.

"You know this is my favorite wine," Jaina said as she sat the glass down on the table. They were sitting in the dining room of his rather massive Bastion apartment, which he maintained since he had to be on the planet several weeks and, sometimes, months at a time for the Moffs' Council.

Hope had finished her diner and was in the care of his very capable housekeeper, and was playing in the guest room which his nephew Davin used when he visited. Davin was Wyn's son and was the same age as Hope. Secretly, Jag couldn't wait for the two monkey-lizards to meet. However, for now, Hope was content in making Davin's TIEs fly around the room and giving Mrs. Wardel a run for her money. Jaina was all his and she was as lovely as ever.

Jag grinned and shrugged as he picked up his wine glass and took a sip. She didn't miss his expression of subtle smugness. "What? Am I not to enjoy the wine?"

He continued to smile and was happy to see the liveliness come back into her brown eyes. They had spent the day together at the Pelleaon Gardens. They've been seeing each other nearly daily since the zoo trip two weeks prior. However, she still had days when she was withdrawn and he knew she was thinking of Zekk. Today had been one of those days.

Smiling, he said, "Actually, I'm glad that you enjoy it. It's produced at a winery in Vissaary…from fruit grown primarily on my estate."

Jaina stared at him flabbergasted. "You have to be kidding me! You own a farm?"

He sat down his glass of the pale yellow wine and shrugged. "I suppose you could call it that. But I assure you, I know very little about fruit growing. I have a small army, both living and droid, employed for that. I only know enough to know I can trust my manager. The orchards and vineyards came with the estate when I purchased it almost five years ago."

She pushed her plate of half-eaten poached mynock and spiced vegetables away and leaned over her arms. Gazing at him still in disbelief, she asked, "So, what's your home like?"

He leaned back in the chair and replied fondly, "Chateau Vissa-Fel is beautiful. It is named for its first owner and its last."

"Oh, that's creative of you, Jag," she interjected dryly. "Couldn't you come up with a better name?" She rolled her eyes and he only winked.

"Well, it is actually tradition to keep its name like that. King Vissa built it as his residence and it became home to the government for over three hundred years. Vissaary got its name from him. It sits on a high bluff and overlooks the calm waters of the Azure Sea and has some the richest land in the area in its holdings. The old castle saw many battles after Vissa became king. The fortress was where the ruler of Kaun plotted all of his attacks on Kaun's sister planet, Bordal. It has survived numerous attacks from land, sea and air, including direct attacks from battle cruisers from space. If the stone walls don't keep an enemy out, the shields will."

"I'm surprised such a place so full of history was on the open market."

"Me too. But I fell in love with the ancient beauty of the place the first time I saw it. I inquired and was surprised to find it was for sale. I bought it the next day. Father was rather amused by it, though."

"Why?" she asked as she began eating her meal again.

"Because Vissa wasn't from Kuan, though he had been a trusted admiral for the king. He was actually Corellian and won some major victories over Bordal. He declared himself king when the ruler and the rest of the royal family were killed in an attack on his home in the then capitol of Loble.

"The irony, as my father finds it, is that to the local people, I saved them from the radicals who wanted to restart the old war with Bordal, and was made their 'ruler' when I was appointed vice-governor. I even moved the capitol like he did when I moved the system government from Bordal to Ruan. I have been compared with King Vissa more than I'd like to be, despite his favorable rule, and living in his palace hasn't made the comparison any less likely. Some even have gone so far as to say I even look like him. Hutt's slime! He was a tall, mountain of a man with a bushy beard and a bald head!"

Jaina's loud laugh cut through the dimly lit dining room like a gentle breeze. "Oh, I definitely can see the resemblance."

"Do you, now?" he replied sardonically. "Well, maybe I should start calling myself King Fel instead of Governor, too."

Between chuckles she said, "King Fel. That's rich."

He laughed, too, simply because it was contagious. He picked up his wine glass and held it up. With eyes full of good humor and something more, he said, "A toast then."

"To what?"

"King Fel, of course!"

She shook her head, but lifted her glass. As the fine crystal clicked lightly against his, she said, "To the king."

"As the Goddess commands," Jag softly added as he sipped his wine with neither one of them able to pull their gaze away from the other. But then she looked down and Jag could suddenly see the sadness in her eyes. And he knew she was thinking of Zekk.

-x-

Jag sighed and out of his memory to find himself staring, not into the blue haze of hyperspace, but into the amused face of a dead man.

"_Zekk?_" he squeaked as he pulled himself up from the less than perfect position he had slipped into while thinking about, first Ralene, and then Jaina. Recovering quickly he said, "Figures you'd get the last laugh."

"Well, Fel, you have to see the irony of all this. First, it was me pining for her love; now, it's you. Though, at least, for you I'm dead and can't come back."

"Yeah, I see the irony all too clearly," Jag deadpanned. Clearing his throat and wondering what in the Hells could be going on, he asked, "So, what are you? A piece of under cooked gornt or possibly you're a dream. I can't believe I'm now seeing Force ghosts. I thought you dead Jedi could only be seen by another Jedi."

Zekk grinned and shrugged. "I am whatever you want me to be, Jag. Whether you want to believe I'm here because you have indigestion or if you believe I'm a real ghost, will not change the outcome."

"Okay…I think."

"You've been seeing Jaina."

Jag drew in a deep breath and defended his actions by saying, "Yes. But nothing can come of it. I'm still engaged and she's still grieving over you."

"But you love her."

Jag looked away and shrugged, without looking up he responded, "Maybe I do, but I'm invested in a relationship. I can only ever be Jaina's friend."

The ghost, or whatever it was, didn't speak for an interminable long time. Jag was beginning to think Zekk left him. He finally looked up and was suddenly overwhelmed by a crushing sadness.

"How's my Hope?" The words were soft, almost as if they were forbidden.

Suddenly, Jag wondered if Force ghosts weren't allowed to talk about certain things. Or, ask certain questions.

However, the pain in the transparent green eyes of his friend and rival jolted him to say, "She wonderful, Zekk. She's very beautiful…and very much like you, you know. Jaina's trying hard not to let her forget you."

Zekk smiled, but it was brittle. "Thanks. But she will forget me, and in many ways, already has."

"No, you're wrong; she is very curious about you. She's even questioned me about you. How I knew you and what I thought of you."

The image of Zekk in the viewport laughed heartily despite the undercurrent of pain. "You didn't tell her the truth, I hope."

Jag couldn't help the snigger that escaped. "No, I lied through my teeth."

After a moment, the two men stopped the chuckling and stared at each other. Finally, Zekk said, "I once promised you that I'd take care of her."

"I know. I was surprised that you never told her. I hinted at our conversation before I left and it was pretty obvious she knew nothing about it."

"Jag, you know Jaina as well as I do, she'd never like it if she realized that we were plotting," Zekk's ghost chided.

"You're right." Jag took a deep breath and added, "Whatever doubts you ever had, Zekk, you shouldn't have them. She loved you, she still does."

"And she loves you."

He shook his head slowly, before responding, "No, my friend, she may have at one time, but I walked away one too many times, I think."

"Jag, my time is short. I soon won't be able to be seen in this realm. I will fully become one with the Force. I promised you once to be there for Jaina after you left for the Empire. Now, I'm asking you to return the favor."

Jag was surprised. Zekk smiled and reached out to him, but couldn't touch him. Zekk seemed so close, but, yet, so far away; untouchable. "Love her, Jag. Be there for her. And raise my little girl. I know you will be a wonderful father and I'd never trust anyone else to do the job. Good bye, my friend."

-x-

The sound of the proximity alarm filled the cockpit and suddenly Jag sat up, looking around him and blinked the sleep from his eyes. Disorientated and with Zekk's final words echoing through his mind, he peered out the viewport where only seconds ago Zekk's image was so clear. Now, all that filled the transparasteel was the whirl of hyperspace. He glanced down at the counter; it was counting down to zero. Reaching for it, he pulled it when the alarm chimed again.

Looking back up, he watched as the swirling blue jerked into the beautiful jewel of Kuan, and in the distance the planet Bordal hanging behind it. He felt his heart break as he whispered to the dead man who loved the same woman he did, "But I'm already taken, Zekk. I may love her, I may even love your daughter as my own, but I can't just leave Ralene. She loves me. Jaina still loves you. Damn you, you really did get the last laugh, didn't you?"

xxx

_Two days later_

Jag made one more pass around the estate. However, he wasn't really looking at the lush, pretty rows of guri and peris trees, their red and bright blue fruits swaying gracefully in the gentle breeze. Nor was he seeing the droids as they harvested the struguri, while five humans and a burly blue Twi'lek male cursed them along. Oh, he pretended to take notice to them, waving and greeting all along the way, but he really wasn't seeing them. He was thinking about _her_.

Finally, he turned away from the farm land, which he really had no real interest in even on a good day. It was just here attached to the place he wanted to make his home.

He pulled the airspeeder up and over the low-growing forest that made up the south border of the property and flew over the top edges of the deep burgundy leafed wasshorr trees. A small ribbon of a river twinkled in the waning sunlight beneath him and he followed it to the end.

He shot out over the cliff that suddenly dropped a half klick before it met the pure white beach below. Jag turned the sleek speeder as if it were a starfighter and looked back to watch the river as it appeared to leap away from the edge of worn black rock and from between the last sentry rows of stately wasshorr trees only to fall for that breathtaking half kilometer to crash in a violent storm of white water spray into the calm blue-green of the lagoon wedged out of the beach. Jag loved the waterfall, and the secret cave below, tucked under the spray. It had, over the years, become his hiding place when he was forced on the ground. There he could get away from Ralene, his responsibilities, his life as it was now. It was the place he went to think about Jaina.

He slowly turned to look north along the black cliff. There about a kilometer away, sitting as impressively as it had the day he first saw it and fell in love with it, was his house—his castle. It was gleaming white stone with a few black mixed in for character. Tall windows, three rows of them, broke up the white even more. The three extensive floors were divided further by polished grey balustrade balconies that overlooked the Azure Sea. Two gleaming slivery towers sat on either side of the main structure; they were built out of polished durosteel and transparasteel with weapon encasements proudly sitting on the tops, as if to show that the graceful beauty had a bite.

That thought had to make him laugh, because he just realized his house was just like the woman he loved. No wonder he fell in love with the place, it reminded him of Jaina.

There it was again. He couldn't stop the memories of the past month from flooding back. Her laugh when Hope ran after the Naboo duck at the zoo on at first day; the sadness in her dark eyes as she talked about Zekk when they went to the artificial lake for a picnic; her angry outburst at the outrageous way her parents were presented at the Imperial Historical Museum, and how vapin' kissable she looked at that moment.

He shook his head trying desperately to dislodge the sudden longing. He had come back to Kuan yesterday. He'd called Ralene and informed her that he had too many pressing matters to attend to before coming home. She had immediately wanted to come into the capitol to meet him, but he quickly deterred her, just as he had done on the three occasions she had wanted to come to Bastion over the past month. She was the reason he didn't go home the moment he entered the atmosphere. After all, he had his own private hangar on the estate.

But he couldn't stay away indefinitely, and she was his fiancée. He should be thinking of her, not what could have been.

He kicked in the airspeeder and moved toward the massive structure he called home. It was far too big for only the two of them. It was a place for children, he suddenly thought as he drew closer to it. With big rooms full of lots of furniture to play hiding games, and the old dungeon in the basement of the North Tower, and then there was the centuries old control center in the basement of the South Tower. Oh, the games he and his siblings could have dreamed up to play in those two places alone, but there were really hundreds of other places too. The orchard, the vineyard, the garden of Kuan and Hapan roses, mixed with Corellian lilies and a pond. _It would be a perfect place for Naboo ducks,_ he suddenly thought. The house was a place where history collided with the present. It was a place where kings and queens loved and died, and may have even hated and schemed against each other. He could imagine a place like this would just shimmer in the Force.

It was the perfect place for a child like Hope.

Jag closed his eyes and let his instinct fly the speeder for a few seconds. He really had to stop thinking about her—about _them_—about what could have, should have been his.

Then words came to him, words from a dream that he wasn't too sure was really a dream:

_Love her, Jag. Be there for her. And raise my little girl._

_It could be mine now_, he thought, _All I have to do is take back my promise._

And as he reopened his eyes he wondered if he was a fool not to.

"Jag, my boy, a lifetime is a long time to spend with a woman you don't love."

He was surprised when he realized it was his voice that spoke.

-x-

He made his way through the mansion, looking in the massive sitting room, the airy salon, the entertainment room. Even the dinning room. He didn't bother with the kitchen, she never went there. But there was no sign of her. Then he made his way to the large, spiraling stone stairway. Adjusting the strap of his duffle over his shoulder and gripping tightly onto the handle of a suitcase, he took the steps two at a time.

The king's suite was an impressive cluster of rooms designed for luxury and comfort all rolled up into one. The bedroom contained the biggest bed Jag had ever slept on and a fireplace, and opened up onto the second floor balcony that over looked the ocean. The large refresher had all of the amenities anyone could possibly ever want. The dressing room had a walk-in closet bigger than Jaina's living room. And there was a communications nook and a sitting room with an entertainment station and comfortable furniture. Jag found the large double wasshorr wood doors ajar and pushed them open.

"I'm so glad that you finally felt the need to come home."

He winced at the sharpness of her sarcasm. Damn, he forgot the security system. She knew he'd spent the past hour flying around the grounds. Something he never did, especially when he had been away for so long.

"I…I had to check on some things."

It was lame and he knew it. She sat up and he finally looked at her. Her red hair was as perfect as always, long loose curls that went to her waist, shinny and smooth. So unlike Jaina's messy, mid-length ponytails. Her icy green dress was at the height of fashion. She'd never worn a flightsuit, her clothes were always impeccably feminine, and extremely expensive. Rings and other jewel encrusted jewelry graced her long neck, earlobes and fingers. Her skin smooth as satin, not a scar or blemish on her, he thought. The only things that marred the white porcelain complexion were the freckles that she loathed and had routinely medically removed until he asked her to stop. To him they were her best feature, they made her less than perfect, and, yet, she never would be _perfect_.

She raised a flawlessly shaped eyebrow and said, "Interestingly, I never saw you land once."

Now he was becoming…not angry, exactly, but…defensive. He sat the suitcase down and threw the duffle onto a chair, one she had picked out, all pale blue and small red checked. "What? Were you spying on me?"

She stood up, then he realized she wavered just a tad, like she did when she had too much to drink. He met her eyes and realized that they weren't the perfect sapphire blue that he remembered, they were darker, sadder, the eyes of someone who witnessed too much. And they were red, puffy. _Gods, she looked as if she'd been crying._

"Merilynne spent two weeks here, Jagged," she said suddenly. Merilynne was her younger sister, and if she had been Force-sensitive, Jag was sure she'd had been a Sith. "I've learned a lot from her. Did you know how she caught her last husband cheating on her?"

Jag suddenly felt as if he'd been sucked out an airlock. Merilynne was known for her games. She had been married four times, her last divorce happening only ten months ago. Finally, he answered, but it felt like the word was stuck to the back of his mouth. "No."

She didn't respond at first, rather she walked over to the holoviewer that was tucked cleverly into a recess in the wall over a cabinet that held their collection of holovids and music datachips. From one of the cases, she pulled out a datachip and put it into the slot of the projector.

That done, she turned. He was amazed at the coldness in her eyes, the flatness of her voice. "She had an investigator follow him for two weeks when he went to Coruscant on 'business'. Turns out his pressing 'business' was a string of multi-colored, practically naked Twi'lek dancers."

Now, Jag was angry. He suddenly realized where this was going. Narrowing his eyes, he darkly accused, "So, you had me followed?"

"Oh, I didn't do it. My dear sister has never liked you. She doesn't think you're good enough for me. She may be two years younger than me, but she has always looked out for me. She had contacted her man, sent him to Bastion after you told me that you were far too preoccupied with Moff business for me to come to be with you after she left to go home."

Briskly, she turned and hit the switch of the viewer. Jag watched angrily and hurtfully and—_and relieved_?—as the image of him walking with Jaina came floated in the space of the holoviewer. No conversation could be heard, not distinctly, but every so often a word could be made out of the muffled blur. A name—a name, a place, a laugh.

They were walking through the Pelleaon Gardens. He remembered clearly that day two weeks ago. The sky was clear and blue. The flowers gently waved in a soft, warm breeze, their fragrance sweet, tangy, spicy. Hope had been thrilled to see him that morning. She had grabbed his hand when he rang Jaina's bell, pulling him into the apartment and over to the dining table. He remembered laughing at her antics as she ordered him to sit so that she could get him breakfast, all the while Jaina watched from the door of the kitchen. Hope poured cereal into a chipped white bowl, more of it going onto the tabletop than in the bowl, but she was determined to do it. And she chatted away telling him about what she wanted to do for the day. She did allow him to help with the blue milk, thank the Force. He surely would have worn more than had been poured over the cereal if she hadn't. But, damn it, that was the best cold, fruit-flavored, too-sweet cereal he'd ever eaten.

When he refocused on the holo, he realized his hand was holding hers as they walked. He didn't even remember taking her hand. Jaina smiled at something he said, he gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, he chased Hope and caught her as she nearly careened into the pond where they had lunch. Cold spicedloaf sandwiches, blue milk for Hope, a bottle of his wine for them, and later ice cream from a vender by the park where Hope had fun showing off her levitation skills with the other children, until Jaina made her stop, warning her that a Jedi never abuses her powers.

It was a perfect day. He nearly gave into temptation and kissed her at the end of it.

The damned investigator even got that. It was easy to see the want in both of their eyes. He had missed it in hers that evening, but now it was there. But it didn't matter because Jaina ducked away, slipping through the door of her apartment. _Would she have kissed me?_ He now thought. After the door closed, he leaned against it, wondering if he'd ever stop loving her.

There was more, a lot more. _Had I really spent that much time with her?_ The trip to Imperial History Museum, Pelleaon Gardens again because Hope wanted to see the flowers and chase the flutterbys. One holo showed them coming to his apartment, not leaving until morning, not once, but both times. He heard a sob from Ralene, but he was too engrossed in his memories of their long talks that finally ended with Jaina falling to sleep on his couch and, with him not wanting to awaken her, he sat there just holding her, never wanting to let go. Then there were their two trips to the sims. Jag had to pull a ton of strings to get a Jedi into the Imperial Training Center, only to have his ass beat both times by her. There was also the second trip to the zoo, where they sat on a bench, his arm around Jaina's shoulder and she leaned into him resting her head onto his shoulder as they watched Hope feed the Naboo ducks she loved so much.

"Looks more like you had plenty of free time, if you ask me." Her voice was as low and sharp as a lightsaber blade. The holo finally stopping on the frame showing them together at the spaceport just before Jag left for Kuan. His arms were around Jaina's waist, his hands resting comfortably on her slender hips, hers around his neck, his lips placing a tender kiss on her forehead. "Kriff, it almost looks like you were on a family vacation."

It was true. Out of the entire month, he had only a handful of meetings. He suddenly realized that Jaina had been the reason he went to Bastion to begin with.

"Ralene…" He said, finally looking at her. She was crying, with tears running down her flushed cheeks. His heart suddenly ached. How many times had she watched this over the past day, he wondered? He figured that she didn't have this yesterday, she'd been too happy in her offer to come see him in Vissaary. "It's not what you think…"

"Don't lie to me, Fel! Before you say anything, know that, as far as I'm concerned, you went to see her." She waved at the frozen frame of him holding Jaina. "Did you go to Bastion just to see your kriffing, hot-shot Jedi!?"

He swallowed, hard. But somehow he wasn't as angry as he thought he'd be when the holos began. He wasn't even hurting for her because of her pain. He wasn't frustrated because she was taking purely innocent holos and seeing something that wasn't there. He hadn't cheated on her, not in the physical way, he hadn't even kissed Jaina…but, oh, how he had wanted to. No, all his emotions were morphing into something more sinister—pure pulsating relief.

Ralene's nosy sister did the hard work for him. He would have explained that things just weren't working. That she would be better off without him; that he had some things to think about. The stuff you tell someone that you're breaking up with to lesson the pain, the heartbreak. But, no, Merilynne's handiwork made it all as shape and as hot as Jaina's lightsaber.

"Answer me, damn you!"

He couldn't smile. That would have been too cruel, but he did clear his throat and stood tall, shoulders squared. Meeting her fiery gaze, he said, truthfully, simply, "I did."

He prepared for the slap that landed against his cheek which snapped his head to the side. Only the slam of the door was louder than whip-crack of the smack.

Jag slowly rubbed his cheek, rotating his jaw to help make the stinging stop, and looked at the holo again. He and Jaina embracing, his lips on her forehead, her eyes closed with a small, sad smile on her lips. _Was she sad because I was leaving?_ And, all the while, little Hope held onto his leg looking up at him with such open affection in her big green eyes.  
_Love her Jag…_

Maybe there was reason to begin believing in all those long, lost dreams again. 

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	12. Chapter 10

**Thanks for reading everyone!!**

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_Two Months Later, 46 ABY_

"How long will you be on Kuan?"

Jaina looked up at her mother and shrugged, and then she turned away back to the closet. As she pulled another one of Hope's better dresses out, she glanced at it, but decided to put it back and pull another. After inspecting it and deciding that it would be appropriate, she turned back and said to her mother, "I don't know. Mic said that he's fine with me taking as long as I want. Besides, Uncle Luke sending Tahiri and Valin to help him came at perfect timing."

Leia nodded as she picked up one of Hope's play jumpsuits. As she looked at it, she commented, "I'm surprised that you're taking Hope. You know your father and I would love to have her."

Jaina finished packing one of the few frilly dresses her daughter possessed. Glancing at her mother she responded, "Jag wants me to bring Hope." Then she smiled and said, "It seems that they've become buddies."

Leia returned the play outfit to the growing pile of clothes and returned Jaina's smile, but as she spoke it turned into a smirk. "Yes, she's told us. She's also convinced he's to be her new daddy."

Jaina twisted away from her mother and pretended to rearrange the various items on the small dresser beside her daughter's bed. "I'll have to speak to her about that. But Jag is only a friend. That's all he can ever be."

"Jaina…" Leia reached out to gently touch her arm. "He's no longer attached…and neither are you."

"Mom, I know Jag may want more, but I can't give it to him." Then she turned and looked at her mother with sadness. "It would be wrong."

"Wrong?" Leia repeated as she regarded her daughter with sad understanding. "You think it would be wrong for you and Jag to finally be together because of Zekk."

"Yes." Jaina moved away from Leia and crossed to the closet again. Without looking at her, Jaina went on, "I can't help but feel that, to finally let my love for Jag surface, I'm somehow dishonoring Zekk. He…he lived so long with sharing me with Jag, if not physically, emotionally." She turned and added, "I feel as if I let myself love Jag, I've was just waiting until something happened to him so I could be with Jag."

Leia sat on the edge of Hope's small bed and stared up at Jaina. Finally, she said, "Jaina, I don't think that, nor would anyone else, if they knew, or suspected your earlier—confusion. And I know with every feeling that I have that Zekk would never think that." Jaina looked over her shoulder, and Leia gave her a small sad smile and added, "In fact, if he could, I think he'd want you to be with Jag—Just as Jag wanted you to be with Zekk if he couldn't have you. They had become quite close. You know that."

Jaina stared at her mother with suspicion. "What do you mean by saying Jag wanted me with Zekk?"

Leia swallowed and paused a moment as if she was measuring her reply. "He never told."

"Told me what?" Jaina took a step closer. "Mom, what is this about?"

Calmly, Leia patted the space beside her on the single bed. "Come, sit." Jaina narrowed her eyes, but did as her mother asked. After Jaina sat rigidly on the edge, Leia looked down at her folded hands in her lap before speaking. "I wasn't supposed to hear their conversation. It was right after Jac—right after Caedus's funeral," her voice hitched at the mention of the Sith that had been her son. Leia took a deep breath and then looked at Jaina. "I think it was when Jag was contacted by his father about going back to the Remnant. Anyway, he and Zekk were talking about you."

Jaina tried to grin, but it somehow was lost. "Not unusual, they usually talked about me."

"Not like this. Jaina, Jag knew you wouldn't go with him. But he was worried about you. He asked Zekk to watch out for you and to take care of you." Jaina bristled and Leia quickly went on, "Jaina, Jag asked Zekk to pursue you." At Jaina's questioning expression, she smiled and added, "He told Zekk to love you, Jaina. That's why I think Zekk wouldn't mind you going to Jag now."

Jaina stared at her mother for a long minute. Then she turned away and softly said, "I never knew. Zekk never told me. But now I understand why he tolerated my feelings for Jag for so long." She gazed back at her mother, tears in her eyes and longing in her eyes. "Mom, I loved Zekk. But I loved Jag, too. I don't know how such things are possible, but I did. Maybe they realized it, too."

Leia smiled and pulled Jaina into her arms, then whispered in her hair, "I think they knew that they both loved you, as well, and finally realized that they weren't really in competition for your feelings, because you did love them both. The hard part would be if you ever decided to make a choice. But when Jag chose to follow his dreams, he helped you make your choice. Now Zekk's gone. It's been a year, Jaina, over a year. No one would ever question your motives, if something happens between you and Jag. You've mourned long enough, and I know Zekk would think the same." She moved to meet Jaina's eyes and smiled, "He only ever wanted you to be happy."

xxx

_Three Days Later_

Jaina still wasn't sure what she was going to do, but, as she watched the city of Vissaary come into view from the cockpit viewport of the skiff her parents had given her when she came to the Empire, she felt an excitement that she never expected to feel.

The sound of her communit brought her out of her thoughts as it buzzed for attention. She answered it and, to her surprise, was instantly given coordinates for the Chateau Vissa-Fel.

"Mommy, we aren't landing?" Hope said from where she sat in the co-pilot's chair strapped into a child's seat Han had fashioned for her, when Jaina deftly pulled away from the capitol. "I thought Uncle Jag was waiting for us."

Jaina smiled over at her and at the endearment she started calling Jag all on her own during his last visit to Bastion almost a month ago. It was during that visit that he invited her to Kuan. She had finally relented in accepting the invitation because Hope insisted that she wanted to see her Uncle Jag at his home. Jaina enjoyed seeing Hope become close to Jag, she needed a father-figure, and Jag was perfect for the job. The question became— was Jaina ready for him to become more in their lives than just her friend.

"Well, 'Uncle' Jag wants us to go directly to his house. He's waiting there."

"Oh!" the little girl bounced in her seat. Smiling, she crooned, "He told me that he had ducks there." Hope loved the Naboo Ducks at the Gardens and zoo back home on Bastion.

Jaina glanced again at her as she took the skiff out over the calm waters of the sea and glided up the coast. She could understand why Jag would fall in love with this planet. It was breathtakingly beautiful. She said in response to Hope's comment, "He does? He told me that he didn't have any animals. That…" Suddenly she stopped. He had told her during their month together that he didn't have any animals, when she jokingly asked if he had animals on his "farm", because Ralene didn't want any around to spoil the gardens or the house.

"Yep. He told me the last time we talked on the comlink. He just got them, though. Said that he decided the pond could use some. He also told me that he had some fun places he'd like to show me inside his house. And we can go swimming in the sea..."

Jaina smiled as Hope chatted on, but she suddenly felt a pang of sadness despite her own growing excitement. She knew she was headed into a media storm, not only an emotional one. The news of Jag's sudden breakup with one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Empire after a four-year engagement hit the HoloNet only days after him arriving back in Vissaary. Fortunately, Ralene was keeping her reasons for leaving Jag out of the media, probably to save her own pride, but holos of Jaina and Jag had popped in more than one place—them holding hands in the Pellaeon Gardens, them seen leaving a restaurant the last time he was on Bastion, there was even one of him and Hope feeding the ducks. She was sure they were being leaked out by Ralene or her spy she had hired.

Jaina about flew into a rage when Jag finally told her about that. It irritated her that she had been so distracted by Jag that she hadn't sensed the investigator. Some Jedi Master she was, she thought cynically.

Suddenly, her comm beeped again. She answered it and was surprised by the voice that met her ears. "Hello, Jaina."

Hope instantly gushed in the way only a little girl could. Sometimes Jaina wondered if she was her child. "Uncle Jag!"

"Hope? You in the cockpit with your mommy?"

Jaina laughed and replied, "'Course she is. She's my co-pilot."

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She is your daughter."

"How much farther?" Hope asked before her mother could respond. Hope's joy and excitement flooded the Force as she continued to bounce in the seat.

"Not far, sweetheart. I see that you're over the sea on the scanner. Jaina, go a little farther out and then swing back to the coordinates I'm sending you. That's the best way to see the castle. That's how I saw it the first time."

"Okay. Got'em. We'll see you in a bit."

"I'll be waiting," Jag said in a tone that told Jaina that he'd wait forever for her.


	13. Chapter 11

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**Thanks for reading everyone!!**

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_Two Days Later_

Jaina watched as Jag and Hope played tag in the massive garden, weaving their way around the beautiful flowers and manicured shrubs. Jag had told her that he had two fulltime gardeners who maintained it all. Jaina smiled at the antics of the man who probably would be the next Grand Moff, and a little girl who at times seemed as untamed as the wind. It was easy to see that they truly had a special relationship. And it warmed her heart.

She and Jag had spent all evening talking. Neither of them admitted anything beyond that they missed each other, but she knew that he loved her. She saw it in his eyes every time he looked at her. Now she just had to let go of her doubt, as her mother told her to, and let herself give in to the feelings that being with him again rekindled.

Hope threw over her shoulder as she ran around a large raised planter of native exotic looking scarlet lilies, Corellian violet leafed mountain hostas and Chandrilia creeping white roses, "You can't catch me!"

Jag started after her, but at the last moment changed directions and went in the opposite direction. Hope was fast, but she never expected him to do appear in front of her. She squealed and tried to pivot away, but Jag caught her around the waist.

"Got you!"

Jaina laughed as the little girl giggled and struggled to get away.

"Oh, no, you don't, you little imp," Jag said between gasps of trying to catch his breath. The two of them had been playing since they woke up and only took a break at lunch time. Jaina had played in the morning, but now was content to sit and watch from a garden table as she sipped on iced struguri juice.

Sitting the fine crystal glass back onto the marble top of the table, she stood. It was time to join the fun. Jag began to tickle Hope, and she giggled and shrieked in delight. Jaina stifled a giggle of her own as she snuck up behind them. She reached out with both hands and was only centimeters away from catching Jag in his ticklish spots right under his ribs, when suddenly she found herself caught by his right arm.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as he dragged her around, actually picking her up off her feet. "Jag! Put me down!"

"Mommy! Help!" Hope said between giggles as she was dangling from the waist under Jag's strong left arm.

"Oh, now, I got you both." Jag laughed, looking from one to the other. "Some big, strong Jedi you two are."

Jaina mockingly glared at him. "You think you've out smarted me?"

His sea green eyes twinkled with mischief as he held her tightly against him. She was suddenly very aware of how lean and hard his body was, and his masculine scent of spice and sea assailed her senses. He was so handsome, roguish, with his dark hair falling over his sweat dampened forehead, and a smirk pulling at his full lips. They were both breathing heavily, the sensation tantalizing against her chest which was pressed against his. She could feel the muscles move over the small of her back through the thin fabric of her tee-shirt as his bare arm flexed, tightening his hold on her. They were both dressed in tees and shorts, and she couldn't help the thrill that shot through her when her smooth legs brushed up against his rougher ones.

Though, she was sure she was having the same affect on his senses that he was having on her, he tried to quip, "I'm not the one being held."

Fighting the desire that was overtaking her, she smirked wickedly and pushed with the Force. At the same time, she grabbed Jag in an invisible grip as he fell backward. Without her moving a muscle, Jagged found himself on his back with Jaina suddenly straddling his hips, while Hope bounced on his chest.

"Yay! Mommy beat you, Uncle Jag!"

Jag, however, wasn't paying the little girl any attention. Suddenly, he was fully focused on the woman sitting over him. He held Jaina's gaze captive and she felt the heat in it. She knew that she should move; she could feel the affect she was having on him. But she couldn't.

A long moment ticked away, before Jag cleared his throat and pulled his gaze from Jaina to the bouncing imp on his chest. He finally caught her under her arms to stop her. Laughing, he said, "You sure did. Now will you and your mommy let me up?"

Jaina, finally getting the strength to move, stood up and away from Jag, who watched her every movement. Her heart raced, not from their play, but from the want she felt for this man.

"Okay, Angel, let Uncle Jag up." She leaned down and picked her daughter up. Hope immediately wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. "I think its nap time anyway."

"But, Mommy, I want to play," she whined.

Jag gracefully stood and interjected before Jaina could, "We've been playing almost all day, sweetheart. And I know Mrs. Wardel's made some fresh cookies."

Her eyes lit up, Hope loved Jag's housekeeper. "Really?"

Jag smiled as he nodded. "Yep. C'mon, I'll even have some with you. I like her special cookies, too."

Jag gently laid his hand on Jaina's back as she carried Hope through the garden and onto the portico that lead into the kitchen. There Mrs. Wardel turned and greeted them with a smile. The heavyset widow had been Jag's housekeeper at his Bastion apartment since he came back to the Empire after the war. She came to Kuan upon Jag's request after Raleen left, and taking with her most of the furniture that she had long ago replaced his original pieces with. Within a month, Mrs. Wardel had completely erased any sign that the Baroness had ever spent a day in the mansion, let alone four years.

After they had Mrs. Wardel's special chocolate and vweilu nut cookies, Jaina put Hope down in the large bedroom Jag had obviously had decorated for her. Then she went into her own suite of rooms across the hall to freshen up before dinner.

The room, which was called the Queen's Room, was as massive as the one Jag occupied he had told, when he showed her to it after their arrival. Mrs. Wardel did a wonderful job at decorating it in subtle shades of creams, golds and wines.

Jaina entered the bedroom proper and was headed into the luxury refresher, when she saw a box wrapped in red foil and tied with a silver bow lying on the canopy bed. She smiled and picked up the flimsy card tucked under the ribbon.

She unfolded it and read:

_Jaina,_

_I'd like to award your patience. Please wear this and meet me in the kitchen within the next hour. I'd like to have dinner with you tonight on the beach._

_Jag_

Curious, she quickly un-wrapped the gift. She gasped when she saw the black swimsuit with matching sarong. It was similar to one she had worn on the last of their excursions on Hapes while they were still dating before the Swarm War. The memories from that stolen week were still very vivid in Jaina's mind.

She gently laid the one piece suit out on the burgundy and cream covered bed. Yesterday, they had spent the morning touring the estate and ended with a picnic lunch by the river. She asked why he hadn't showed them the beach, but he simply had told her that she only had to be patient.

He should have realized by now that she had never been patient.

x

Forty-five minutes later Jaina met Jag in the kitchen where he was speaking with Mrs. Wardel as the two of them packed a basket of food. Jag finished packing a bottle of wine, turned and smiled at Jaina as she walked up to stand beside him by the granite counter. Mrs. Wardel grinned as she watched her employer with Jaina.

Jaina couldn't help the slight blush that touched her cheeks at Jag's piercing attention. However, her embarrassment of having him so blatantly look her over didn't stop her from doing the same to him. He was dressed simply in black swim trunks.

It took Mrs. Wardel clearing her throat to break the spell. Suddenly, Jaina found her voice and said, "Hi. Thanks for the bathing suit. I never even thought to pack one."

He smiled. "I figured as much. I hope that you like it."

Before she could say anything, Mrs. Wardel injected, "If there's nothing else, sir?"

"No, Mrs. Wardel. Thank you for getting this ready," Jag smiled at the housekeeper. She bobbed her head and turned to go.

"Hope," Jaina said as if just remembering her daughter. "What about Hope?"

Mrs. Wardel grinned and replied, "Don't worry about little Hope. We'll have tons of fun when she wakes up and I'll make sure she eats her dinner."

"Thank you." Jaina's relief painted her words.

The housekeeper nodded to them again and turned, but before stepping away she looked back at Jaina. Smiling all too knowingly for Jaina, she went on to say, "I'll even make sure she gets to bed on time." Then she was gone.

Jag scratched his clean shaven chin and met Jaina's suddenly wide eyes. "Don't mind her. She's trying to play matchmaker. We'll be back long before Hope's bedtime."

"Oh." Suddenly, she wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed.

"So," he said shattering the ensuing silence, "you didn't say. Do you like the suit?"

She looked down over herself and replied, "Ahhh…Yes. I liked the first suit that I had like this, too. Where in the galaxy did you find this? It's so much like that one."

He shrugged as he picked up the basket. "I found it here in Vissaary. It instantly reminded me of that suit you wore on Hapes."

Her breath caught at the intensity of his gaze. They both knew the significance of that week they spent on the beach in one of Tenel Ka's summer cottages. Even though the week had been incredible with them barely ever leaving the comfort of each other's arms, it was after that that things went sour in their relationship. It was the last time that they spent any time together. Six months later they met in a refueling station and she broke it off, telling him things just weren't working for them.

As he stared at her and she at him, she realized that they both were thinking the same thing—What would have happened if she hadn't been called away three days before their two weeks had been through. She knew that he had wanted to ask her to marry him sometime within the second week, but she abruptly left before he ever had the chance, or before she could have told him yes.

She whispered, "Yeah, yours does, too."

Ignoring her comment, Jag held out his hand, his voice also a whisper, "Will you let me lead you?"

She looked from his eyes to his hand and trembled as she laid hers into his, knowing that she would let him lead her anywhere.

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only two more chapters left...


	14. Chapter 12

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**Thanks for reading everyone!!**

* * *

_Later_

Jaina thought she had her breath taken away when she first saw Jag's estate when she arrived, coming toward it from the ocean. But as she and Jag took a glass enclosed turbolift down the cliff side, she realized she was amazed again. The Azure Sea got its name because of its deep sapphire blue, and the late afternoon sky blended so well in the east that you couldn't tell were one began and one ended. Even the clouds and the white capped waves meshed. It was an incredible illusion and for someone who spent as much time in the void that made up the sky, it was exhilarating.

They didn't speak and Jaina knew that Jag was feeling the same about the view. The drop down the kilometer to the narrow beach was over in only a few moments and soon they were standing on the warm white sand of the secluded and completely private beach. To the north, the beach ended in jagged rocks where the cliff met the water; to the south, it ended in the magnificent waterfall and the lagoon it came crashing into.

"Oh, Jagged, this is so beautiful," Jaina breathed as she dropped the bag of towels and the blanket they'd use to sit on the beach to have dinner.

He smiled and sat the basket down on the sand. The sun was past it zenith, and the cliff cast the beach in welcome shade. The afternoon had been rather warm. Standing and pointing toward the waterfall, he said, "Behind the fall is a grotto."

She looked up at him and asked, "Can we go there?"

He grinned as he pinned her with his gaze. "I was hoping I could convince you to go in there with me. It had always been there that I'd go to think about you. No one else here even knows its there."

"You'd go there to think about me?"

He laid his hands on her shoulders to turn her toward him. Jaina lost her breath at the emotion she suddenly felt coming from him and mixing with hers. He slowly slid his hands from her shoulders to her face. Using his right hand, he brushed the loose hairs that fluttered in the slight breeze over her forehead. In an emotion ridden voice, he whispered, "Jaina, there hasn't been a day in the past fifteen years that I haven't thought of you. I love you."

"Jag…" she breathed as a tear ran down her cheek. "I—I love you. I always have, even while married to Zekk. I loved you both."

Jag brushed the tears away and tenderly smiled. "I know. Jaina, we both knew. I'm not jealous of Zekk's time with you. Hope wouldn't have come into my life if you hadn't been with him. And I've grown to love her as my own. But I'll never let her forget her father."

He became thoughtful for moment, and Jaina said, "Jag, I know about what you and Zekk agreed to before you left." At his expression of surprise, she added, "Mom overheard your conversation. She told me before I came here." She looked away and quietly added, "Somehow I know Zekk…"

"Jaina…" she looked up at him and he smiled, "I know he's out there somewhere happy for us. He loved you and he knew that I loved you. I don't want to take away from what you had with him. I only want the chance to have the same."

Before she could respond, he covered her lips with his. The kiss was tender, but as his tongue licked her upper lip, she moaned and opened her mouth to him. With a groan, he buried his hands into her hair, pulling the band with which she held it into a tail out. Jaina wound her arms around his neck and gasped when he plundered her mouth with his tongue, causing her knees to go weak and her heart to race as her insides turned to hot liquid.

The kiss went on and on, passionate, demanding and giving, promising. And neither of them wanted it to ever end, but the need for air couldn't be denied. With a growl from Jag and a moan from Jaina, they breathlessly separated. He pulled her to his chest and she clung to him with her head on his heaving bare chest. Over the rush of blood in her ears, she could hear his heart race and suddenly never felt so at peace.

After a long moment, they both got their desire under some semblance of control. Jag gently pushed her away as she let go of him. Huskily he said, "I think we should go for a swim before we have dinner. Then I'll show you the grotto."

She nodded and agreed, "Yeah, I think we both need to cool off a little."

Jag laughed, shattering the tension as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I've wanted to kiss you since that morning you opened the door before we went to the zoo that first time."

She blushed and for the first time was perfectly honest with him, and with herself. "Me too." They came to the water's edge and she turned to him. "Jag, thank you for taking this so slow. I just needed time to come to grips with everything."

He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers and said, "I know. And I had my own issues. But now we only have to worry about us."

The refreshing water lapped around their ankles and Jaina laughed. "When in the galaxy could we only worry about us, Governor Fel? Or should I say future Grand Moff, or maybe King? You are the king of Kuan, right?"

He chuckled. "I'm no king, but once Ephim retires, I do hope to become the next Grand Moff. I have some good ideas about the Empire. But what about you and your Jedi academy, Master Solo?"

"See. We will never just be us. But," Jaina wound her arms around him again, "as long as we have each other, I'll be happy."

"Me too." Jag kissed her again and she felt as if she was flying. After breaking off, he said, "C'mon. Let's get in."

She looked out over the calm water and spotted a sizable rock protruding from the surface. As she removed the delicate lacy sarong, she said, "Hey, I'll race you that rock."

He raised his brow as he looked back at her. "Okay, but no cheating."

She balled up the lacy thing and gave it a Force assisted toss back to the basket and bag sitting further up on the beach. Turning back, she sniggered. "Now, would I ever do that?" But before he could answer, she took off and ran into the deeper water.

"Jaina!" he laughed and called after her as he splashed in after her.

They both laughed as they swam to the jutting black rock. She reached the rock and used the Force to propel her out of the water and onto the rock.

"You cheated," Jag accused as he gracefully climbed onto the rock to sit beside her.

She shrugged. "I didn't use the Force."

"No, but you had a false start. That's cheating. Now, I know where Hope got it."

She playfully punched him. "And you're a sore loser." Then she looked out over her shoulder at the vast blue ocean behind them. "There's no big, human eating fish in here, is there?"

"Emmm…not sure. But there are a few sea monsters."

She turned back to him. "Really?" She didn't sound too convinced.

"Oh, yeah. Big ones."

She looked back over her shoulder and suddenly found herself being bodily picked up and flung off the rock into the water. "You have to watch out for those sneak attacks!"

"Jag!" she got out just before going under.

He laughed as she came up sputtering. "That's what you get for putting me down on the ground today."

"I'm gonna get you!"

He arrogantly raised his brow. It was the worst thing he could have done. Before he knew what was happening, he landed in the water after Jaina used the Force to lift him from his lofty perch. He came up gasping and she knew she was in trouble.

Laughing she tried to swim away but didn't get far. She giggled as he caught her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder into the cool blue water.

She never felt so carefree before in her life.

x

After they played and explored the sea bottom for the next hour or so, they got out and had their supper of spiceloaf sandwiches and raw locally grown fruits and vegetables, washing it all down with the bottle of wine. The sun was making its way down in the west behind the cliff, and the sky in the east over the ocean was darkening. Soon the first evening stars would be coming out.

They eat in comfortable silence, content to watch the waves, the bright green feathered sea birds that scavenged on the water's edge or dove for fish in the shallows for their own evening meal. Occasionally, a large fish would dive out of the water to prey upon the unlucky bird that got too far out from shore.

Finally, Jag said as he stood, "I think it's time I showed you the grotto."

She willingly took his hand, but said, "Won't it be too dark in there now that the sun's going down?"

He only smiled and replied, "Come on, you'll see."

They climbed up and over the ledge of rock at the side of the waterfall. Water slashed over them as it hit the lagoon. Jag squeezed Jaina's hand and said loudly to be heard over the crashing water, "Careful. We'll have to get in and scale the side around the fall. Right here the undertow isn't as bad."

Jaina nodded and followed Jag into the water. She was surprised at how strong the current was. Only her touching the Force and Jag's strong hand on hers kept her from being swept under. Jag shouted, "Hang on!"

She grabbed onto the rocks at the edge and yelled, "How do you ever find this?"

Jag shook his head and shouted back, "I'll tell you once inside."

They got around the fall and made their way into the darkened cave behind the it where thousand of years of water erosion had cut out the black rock. Once they got far enough in where the water calmed, they swam to the rock ledge deeper inside. Jag climbed out and Jaina jumped onto the smooth wet rock.

"I had read a reference about the secret cave. Actually, there are a series tunnels and a lift that leads here from the house. The royal family could come here if they were ever attacked and hide."

"Can you still access this from up top?" Jaina looked around at the beauty of the backside of the waterfall. The waning light showed through the water, turning it sparkling white and sending a soft glow into the cave opening.

Jag smiled. "Actually, I can. That's how I found this actually. I stumbled upon the tunnel access near the hangar not long after moving here. And after discovering the grotto, I decided not to tell anyone else about it. This became my safe haven."

"Away from Raleen?"

He stared at her for a moment before looking away and nodding. "Yeah. Moving in with her and asking her to marry me wasn't one of my smarter moves."

She squeezed his hand and laid her other one on his cheek. "You were lonely."

He took her into his arms and said, "I wanted you. But since I couldn't have you, I went after a woman who was the least like you. In the end, it only made me want what I had with you all the more."

He kissed her gently and whispered against her lips, "I have this rule when I'm in here."

"What's that?"

"I can only think about you. I never think of anyone else. If you want to talk about Raleen later, we can, but not here."

She grinned. "I really don't ever want to talk about her."

He laughed, kissing her forehead. "Good. Then we won't."

He then led her deeper into the dark cave. The light from the opening soon was replaced with lichen that eerily reminded her of what the Vong had used for lighting in their ships. The light was soft and had a golden glow to it. Like candles, she suddenly thought. As if Jag read her mind, he said, "It's called candle glow or golden glow. It's very common in this part of the world."

"It's really pretty."

They moved along in silence for a while, until Jag stopped and said, "Now, you need to close your eyes."

"A surprise?"

He grinned. "Maybe. If you behave."

"I'll try," she said with a smirk as she closed her eyes and allowed him to lead her around the bend. She could hear the trickling of water and felt the warmth hit her cooling cheeks as the bitter scent of minerals filled her senses.

"Okay," he whispered next to her ear, his warm breath causing her to shiver, "open your eyes."

Jaina slowly opened them and instantly sucked in a breath. The grotto was beautiful. The golden glow from the lichen flickered over a pool of steaming water near the center. The floor was covered with plush carpets near the mineral water filled pool. On the corner of one sat a small cooling case, on top were two glasses, beside it were a pile of blankets and towels.

"Oh, Jag, it looks wonderful."

"Come on," he led her to the water's edge. There they sat down next to the cooler. Jag let go of her hand and reached behind the small unit. When he brought his hand back before her, he held a small battered looking box. With his other hand, he took hold of hers again, entwining her shorter, slender fingers with his longer, leaner ones.

Meeting her suddenly puzzled, but excited gaze, he cleared his throat and huskily said, "Jaina, I know this is sudden and I know you might not be ready, but I just want you to know where I want this to go.

"I love you. Force, I've never been happier than I've been the past few months."

"Jag…I…"

"No," he interrupted her, lifting her their joined hand and kissing her fingers tips, "please, let me finish."

She nodded and he went on, his voice cracking from the emotion in it, "I never want this feeling to end. Goddess, will you marry me?"

Movement of his hand that held the box drew her attention to it. She gasped when she saw the diamond and ruby ring set in an exquisite silver setting.

"You don't have to answer me today. Just wear this to remember that this is where I want to see us."

"How…" her voice cracked and she started again as she looked back at his moist eyes. "How long have you had this?"

"Since Hapes. I planned to propose to you the day after you left. I've carried it ever since."

"You even had it…"

"I've had it since Hapes, everywhere," he repeated with meaning, and she suddenly realized how much this man loved her. It made her heart wrench.

"Jag…I'm sorry." She instantly felt his heart break as he turned away. She quickly placed her trembling hand on his cheek, turning his face to her again. "I didn't mean…Jag, I meant: I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you. I love you. But before I can say yes to you, there's something you should know.

"I probably will never be able to have another child. I had three miscarriages before I had Hope and couldn't become pregnant again afterward. Master Cilghal said that one of my ovaries had been damaged somewhere along the way during one of my many battle injuries. Are you okay with this? Can you be content with only ever having Hope?"

"Jaina..." he breathed as he took her into his arms. Tenderly he kissed her forehead and then looked into her eyes again. She had never seen Jag cry, she suddenly realized, as a single tear escaped and ran down his cheek. She brushed it away with a trembling hand and he kissed hers away. "Oh, my love, I already love her. If she's all we'll be able to have, then I'll love her all the more."

She closed her eyes as she let go of the years of denying her true feelings. When she opened them, she said, "Then my answer is yes."

He didn't move for several moments, he only stared at her with his love and joy filling the Force around them. "Jaina, you've just made every dream I've ever had come true."

"I know," she whispered and let him place the ring on her third left finger. She stared at the beautiful ring and quietly said, "A perfect fit. I'll treasure it always."

She turned her gaze back to his and his hand moved from her hair to feather her jaw line. With a sudden fire burning in his green eyes, he murmured, "I seem to remember something else being a perfect fit." And then carefully pushed her back onto the plush carpet and devouring her lips with his. Jaina moaned as he sucked on her tongue, setting a rhythm that she wanted him to continue with elsewhere. He became more comfortable as he stretched out along side her, supporting himself with one hand while the other found its way to her smooth, bare thigh. All the while his mouth ravaged hers. Her hands slid across his firm chest, her fingers relishing the sensation of the light dusting of dark hair. He groaned as he nibbled on her bottom lip when her fingernails found the small dark nipples.

He moved his free hand up her hip and belly until he reached the curve of her breast. Slowly he caressed the underside of the globe through the taunt fabric of her bathing suit. She moaned and he broke his hold on her lips to move his hot lips down her neck. When he reached the hollow he gently suckled the soft skin.

Jaina moved her hands down his flat belly to the waistband of his shorts. She could feel his hardness pressed against her thigh and she wanted him. She wanted him inside of her right there and then.

"Jag…please…" she breathed as his hand began to circle the pebble of her nipple.

He chuckled against her neck and huskily whispered, "Patience, Goddess. I've wanted you for far too long to get it over with that quickly."

As if knowing what would hurry him up, Jaina's hand slipped into his pants and found his shaft. She caressed him and then stroked along its length. He instantly stilled his ministrations on her neck and breast. Closing his eyes, he growled deep in his chest.

"Jaina…" he hissed and she could tell he was dangerously close.

She then felt naughty. A wicked, wanton grin touched her lips as she sat up, pushing him over onto his back. He opened his eyes and she said, her voice low and sensual, "Do you really want me to stop?"

He moaned again as she stroked him. "No…but if you…"

She kissed him and slowed her strokes and the pressure on him. After leaving his lips, she whispered into his ear, "Would you like to make this last as long as possible?"

"Yeah."

She kissed down his shoulder to his chest. After flicking her tongue over the small dark point of his nipple she continued her exploration of his chest and abdomen. She loved the feel of the black curls against her lips and tongue, the salty flavor of him, the way his skin rippled beneath her touch. When she reached the top of his trunks, she removed her hand and he groaned in protest.

As she positioned herself between his legs, she quipped, "I thought you wanted me to stop only a moment ago."

His lust darkened eyes locked on hers and she felt her insides melt. Without breaking eye contact, she slowly removed his shorts. He moved his legs to help her take them off, but neither of them looked away from the other. Once they were off, she leaned back on her legs and looked him over, letting her eyes travel over his chest, belly and down to that most male part of him.

When she let out a little whimper of pure lust, Jag chuckled and said, "Do I meet with your approval?"

Instead of answering with words she locked gazes with his again, and let the wanton grin spread over her lips as she leaned over him. He gasped when her intent finally dawned on him.

"Jaina…" he let out in a long breath as her lips gently kissed his most sensitive spot. She knew to proceed slowly, but her need to give him pleasure seemed to outweigh her knowledge. She licked his tip and then slowly took him within her mouth as her gently massaged the rest of his manhood.

Jag bucked against her and his hands instinctively went into her long damp hair. "Oh, gods, Jaina!"

But she knew a trick. Sometimes she really loved being a Jedi. Using the Force, she applied pressure at the appropriate area and instantly his impending release ceased, but not the build-up. He growled and she continued to pleasure him until to continue would become too painful for him unless she let him come. Slowly she let him go and climbed over him, careful not to touch his super sensitive organ.

He opened his eyes and stared at her. "How…did you…"

She kissed him. Long, deep and with a smoldering passion. Jag recovered his shock and reined in his control as he wrapped his arms around her. Then he rolled her over onto her back.

Breaking the kiss, he smiled, and Jaina thought it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Her hands found their way into his damp hair, while his free hand went to the strap over her shoulder. "I think it's time we get rid of this."

She couldn't have agreed more. Helping him, they quickly slid the still wet suit off her. She watched him as his eyes caressed her body. Then he leaned over her, and while his hand moved to tease her breast, fingering the hard nipple, his mouth found the other one. The fiery electricity prickled on every nerve, causing her to groan and arch her back into him. He played a long time, alternating from one breast to the other. Finally, leaving her nipples to tingle in the humid, warm air of the grotto, he moved down her flat belly to swirl his tongue along her belly button.

Her hands tangled in his hair as he nipped and kissed, first one hip, then the other. His hand wasn't idle as it skimmed up between her legs, along the tender skin that ached for his touch. Up, up her inner thigh until his fingers brushed the tangle of dark curls that marked her sex. She bucked against his hand and he obliged by touching her most intimate place.

She instantly felt like she could explode, shatter into a million pieces right there. But he moved his fingers down and slid them into her. She gasped at the intense sensations that swelled within her. Then he kissed her, on that moist, pulsing place.

"Jagged…" she gasped. His tongue flicked over her as his fingers worked in a rhythm meant to send her over the edge of the abyss, and it was too much. With a shuttering breath, she released and for a moment all that mattered were the incredible feelings this man created in her.

He stayed with her, bringing her back down. Breathing hard, she slowly opened her eyes when he moved to lay over her. He brushed the loose hair from her moist forehead and kissed her eyes, then her nose, and finally, her mouth.

She wrapped her arms around him, and then her legs. His erection pushed against her and he broke the kiss. As he smoothed the hair at her temple, their eyes locked, he slowly pushed forward, until he was buried to the hilt. Closing their eyes to savor the sensations, Jaina felt the Force whirl around them. She opened her mind to him, and though, he could never bond with her as another Jedi could have, she let him feel the intense pleasure she felt.

He moaned and buried his face into her neck as he began a slow, steady rhythm. He whispered in a hoarse voice of passion, "We're still a perfect fit."

She chuckled and slid her hands up his back. "That we are." His strokes were long and deep and perfect, building the wonderful tension again. Closing her eyes she arched her back as he leaned down to catch on of her nipples between his teeth. "Oh, Jag…I'm gonna come again."

He looked at her. Smiling as he increased the pace of his thrust, he said, "Come with me. Tell…me…when." She could hear the strain in his voice as he held back.

She closed her eyes again and let the sensations overwhelm her again. With a growl, she hissed, "Now!"

And together they found the greatest pleasure known to humankind as the coil of their passion exploded, sending them adrift.

Several moments later, they laid snuggled under the blanket that Jag had put there earlier. She listened to his steady heart, and he said, "Sweet Force, Jaina. That was…"

She looked up at him and supplied with a sly grin, "Amazing?"

He chuckled and sat up, pulling her into his lap with the blanket still wrapped around them. "Yeah. That adjective will work."

Then he reached for the glasses that were on the small cooler. After handing one to Jaina, he opened the box and took out a bottle of Chandrilia champagne. He popped the cork and it instantly fizzed over the top of the bottle. They both laughed as the golden liquid poured over them.

"Opps," Jaina giggled as the cold wine hit her breasts.

He raised his scared brow and said as he poured wine into the glasses, first hers then his, "Don't worry, I'll get that later."

She raised her glass. "I'm sure you will." Jag clicked his glass against hers and she added, "Here's to the future."

He gave her a sexy smile that turned her insides to lava again. "To our future."

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	15. Chapter 13

**Thanks for sticking with this everyone.**

**Here is the ending...I hope that you enjoy. And drop me a line to let me know what you think.**

**Since I had to move the rating of this to M because of the last chapter, I've gone back and added to the Zekk/Jaina scene at the begining if anyone is interested.**

**Again thanks everyone!! hugs**

**Also if anyone is interested, I am helping to write a collaborative post-LotF Speculation story that deals with how Jag becomes Emperor and the Imperal Knights are born. There is a lot of dirty dealing politics with Daala. There is even a mysterious assassin who will surprise you all.**

**Check it out. It's titled ****_The Masters of Fate_ and is being authored under our Collab penname Jagateers.**

**Sara**

* * *

_Several Years Later, 82 ABY_

He was amazing.

That was the only thing she could think as she held the newborn infant in her arms, feeling very out of practice while doing it. Though, Empress Jaina Solo Fel was worried about his mother; she was happy that she was the one they gave the upset baby to.

She smiled down at him as he opened his blue eyes to look up at her. He had finally stopped crying and was starting to settle down. She knew he'd be hungry soon, and she'd have to call the med droid in to fetch her a bottle. But for now he seemed at peace. He looked remarkably like his father had when he came into her life. _Sweet Force, was that really thirty-two years ago?_

Zekk Anakin Fel had been a surprise like none Jaina had ever experienced. She and Jag had been married for almost four years when she became pregnant. They hadn't tried to, but they hadn't been trying not to either. However, they both resigned themselves to think that they'd never have a child of their own. And really, that didn't even matter to them. They loved Hope and she became everything to them.

She still was. They never let her forget Zekk and oddly she never called Jag "Dad", despite their closeness, she still referred to her step-father as "Uncle Jag", which was fine with him. He never wanted to replace Zekk, only be there while he couldn't. Now, she was all grown up and a full Imperial Knight, as the Jedi who graduated from the Bastion academy were known as. She served the Empire and seldom went outside its borders, when she wasn't standing beside her husband's side.

Wyn's son, Commander Davin Fel, and Princess Hope Solo had become fast friends when they first met during that first visit to Kuan. Although, Jag and Jaina married shortly after, and they tried to press upon Davin and Hope that they were now "cousins", it never seemed to matter. Hope had told Jaina that she was going to marry him after meeting him that first day, and there was no changing her mind. And he was just as taken with her. Once they became teenagers, it was easy to see that they were destined to be together no matter what others had to say about it. Then when they were twenty-five, the two of them eloped after she discovered she was pregnant. It was a probably best that they did it that way. Jag had wanted to kill his nephew for what he had done to his "Princess", despite the young man's amazing service record as an ace pilot.

"Hope and Davin will be here as soon as they can."

Jaina looked up at the man standing at the doorway of small visiting room where Jaina sat in a rocking chair holding her first grandson, though he wasn't her first grandchild. Hope and Davin had two daughters, fourteen-year-old Meribeth and five-year-old Mishalle.

Jag was still a handsome man. His hair was more silver than black now, the white streak blending with the rest. But his eyes still burned with an intensity that could take her breath away. They had had an incredible life together.

Not long after they married, Jag was named Grand Moff. Jaina still wasn't sure how it all happened within ten years, but by the end, Jag had been crowned Emperor. His policies and actions gave him the reputation of being the greatest ruler of the Empire, and completely changed how people perceived it. His program, Victory Without War, was universally accepted and had managed to bring peace where there hadn't been any.

"That's good," she looked back down at the baby in her arms. "How's Siah?"

Jag moved into the room and pulled a chair over to sit beside his wife. She met his eyes and he said, "Sleeping. They finally stopped the bleeding."

"Thank the Force," she whispered and instantly reached out for their son. He was still fearful, but he was calming now that his wife was out of danger. Siah Thernen was the daughter of the current Chief of State of the GA, and they had only been married for three years. After she gave birth to the baby, she began to hemorrhage and had been bleeding off and on for over three hours. Jaina was given the baby when he began to cry hysterically because he could sense his parents', and particularly his father's, distress.

"Zekk's finally calming down," Jag said as he reached over to brush his fingers over his grandson's head of black fussy hair. "I finally felt it was okay to leave him. I was worried there for a while."

She nodded and said, "I was too. But not for Zekk, for Siah. But, if he's finally got his emotions under control, that's probably why the baby settled down; he can't feel Zekk's fear anymore."

Jag nodded agreement, but didn't look up at her; he was awed by his legacy lying in her arms. She grinned and added as she gently presented him with the baby, "Here, Grandpa. I've had more than my share of time with him."

She tried to repress a grin, when the man most of the galaxy saw as tough as durosteel, took the blue bundle from her arms with trembling hands. He loved his granddaughters, but as with Hope, he was only the steward. They were Zekk's grandchildren. This little guy was his. Jag finally gave a emotional charged laugh when the tiniest Fel gave out a big yawn and then looked up at him with his mother's blue eyes.

"Well, well, little prince. Welcome to the family."

"Did Zekk say what they were going to name him?"

Jag looked up and replied, "Roan."

"That's nice." She reached over to take his tiny hand into hers. She couldn't stop touching him.

They both were silent for a long time, just enjoying the amazing sight of their grandson.

Finally, Jag murmured, his voice husky with the love he felt for her and for his family, "You once told me that you hoped our paths would cross and not be so broken when they did. You know, when it comes right down to it, I don't know if I'd have changed a thing."

She stared at him, thinking back over the years of all the good times, and the bad that didn't seem that bad now. Sure there were still memories that could make her cry—Jacen's death, Zekk's disappearance and death—but she had come to terms with them and remembered the good that came from those times of pain.

Finally, she smiled and reached up to lay her hand on his cheek. With their gazes locked, she whispered back, "I thank the Force everyday for the broken road that led me to you."

Then she kissed him as their future watched them with bright blue eyes.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
I set out on a narrow way many years ago  
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road  
But I got lost a time or two  
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through  
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you  
Every long lost dream lead me to where you are  
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you_

_I think about the years I spent just passing through  
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you  
But you just smile and take my hand  
You've been there you understand  
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true_

_Every long lost dream lead me to where you are  
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you_

_(Rascal Flatts, Bless the Broken Road)  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_The end_

_Flowerlady_


End file.
